Biographical notes

John was a Consulting Engineer and worked in Canada for a time, probably with his elder brother William. When William and his wife Frances died, their two children William (b 1869) and Florence (b 1874) were still very young so John and his wife Laura looked after them. After John returned to England he lived in Weston-Super-Mare. He did a lot of work for Cory of Cardiff and used to travel a great deal to Manchester and various places Laura started the Royal Pier Hotel in Weston-Super-Mare soon after her son Richard was born. She ran this very successfully for many years, helped by her daughters until they were married and her son Richard was also the Managing Director for some time. Whenever the Crowes of Melfield visited England, they always stayed in Weston and presumably at the Royal Pier Hotel.

Biographical information from Alison Wailes (2008).