Constance Eleanor BYRCH (later CRAN) (1881-1964)

Constance Eleanor Byrch (1881-1964), known as Connie, was the daughter of a prominent Evesham solicitor who was friendly with the Sladden family.  When the Byrch family emigrated to New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century, the two families kept in contact.  May Sladden stayed for a few days with the Byrches on a visit to New Zealand in 1906 and wrote about it in her diary.

Constance Byrch was born at Evesham in 1881, the third of ten children and eldest daughter of Albert William Byrch, a solicitor, and his wife, Constance (née Bremmer).  Connie was born at 5 Greenhill but the family later moved to The Elms, Bengeworth.

In 1902, Connie emigrated with her family to the South Island of New Zealand.  They lived firstly at a sheep station at Mount Brown near Amberley, which was where May visited them in February 1906.  Soon after the Byrches moved to a sheep station at Motunau near Canterbury.

Connie married John Cranstoun Cran in 1910.  They had two children:  Constance Hazlette (1911-1969) and John Byrch Cranstoun (1913-1965).

Connie died on 26th November 1964 in Wellington, North Island, aged 83; her husband had died 35 years earlier.