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Florence Eva Crackles (known as Eva) was born in Hull on 23 January 1918. She graduated with a BSc in Botany, Zoology and Mathematics in 1940, and went on to develop an interest in both ornithology and botany. She began teaching, eventually becoming Head of Biology at Malet Lambert High School, a post she held until she retired in 1978.

She joined the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists Club in 1941 and the Yorkshire Naturalists Union two years later, allowing her to pursue her interests and meet other enthusiasts in the region. By the 1950s Eva's interest in botany had increased and she collected many samples of wild flowers from amongst the bomb sites of Hull.

Through her work in the 1950s with Professor Ron Good at the University of Hull, Eva made major contributions to the Atlas of the British Flora, published in 1962. She was elected to Fellowship of the Linnean Society of London in 1966 and was awarded a Masters Degree from the University of Hull in 1978.

Eva was also a keen writer as well as a collector, writing a column in the Hull Daily Mail called 'Crackles Country'. Eva enjoyed sharing her passion for botany, and gave lectures at evening classes for the Workers' Educational Association.

Following the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1981, Eva became involved in the characterisation of the botanical importance of several sites identified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Eva was an active champion at public enquiries in protecting threatened sites in East Yorkshire.

In 1990 she published The Flora of the East Riding of Yorkshire, which was a culmination of four decades of collecting and research. Her training in maths and chemistry made all her work scientifically precise and detailed. In 1991 Eva was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Hull University in recognition of her extensive contribution to botany and teaching. A year later she also received an MBE for her services to Botany and its conservation.

She was a keen researcher of family history, and published an account of her family history in the East Yorkshire Historian in 2000.

Eva Crackles died on 14 July 2007 leaving bequests to the University of Hull and the Yorkshire Wildfire Trust.

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