Mary Burns Laird

Mary Burns Laird was a founding member and first President of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association, a President of the Partick Branch of the Women's Labour League, associated with the Red Clydeside movement, and supported the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915 alongside Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan, Mary Jeff and Helen Crawfurd.[1][2] Laird went on to participate in wider social activism for women and children's rights.[3]

Mary Burns Laird
Born1864
Died1944
OrganizationWomen's Labour League; Glasgow Women's Housing Association
Known forSocial activism, women's housing rights and Glasgow Rent Strikes
Political partyLabour Party (UK)
MovementRed Clydeside; Rent Strikes
Partner(s)John Laird, shipbuilder's clerk
ChildrenAnnie, Mary, Robert
Parent(s)Margaret Walker and Hugh Burns, deputy harbourmaster

Biography

Mary Burns Laird was born in 1864 to Margaret Walker and Hugh Burns, who were both born in Ireland. In 1884, she married John Laird, who was a ship builder's clerk. The wedding took place in Kinning Park.[4] Laird was a sewing machinist. Her father, Hugh was a Deputy Harbourmaster at the time of her marriage. Laird and her husband, John had three children, Annie, Mary and Robert[5] and the family stayed on Blantyre Road, Anderston.[5]

Laird was a prominent Labour activist and patron of the Women's Labour League. In 1913, as a member of the Women's Labour League, she gave a prepared statement and then was a witness to the Royal Commission on the Housing of the industrial population of Scotland Rural and Urban.[6].

This Commission originated in 1909, when the Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Pentland, directed the Local Government Board for Scotland to seek reports from county medical officers into the living conditions of miners; this being the result of a meeting with a deputaion from the Scottish Miners Federation earlier that year. This eventually led to the Commission being established in 1912 by Lord Pentland's successor, the Right Honourable T McKinnon Wood. [6]

Women's Housing campaign and rent strikes

In 1914, at the age of 50, Laird became one of the founders and first President of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association.[1][7]

Mary Barbour Statue - Front view

The Glasgow Women's Housing Association was formed on the eve of the First World War in 1914 with support from the Women's Labour League and the Housing Committee of the Glasgow Labour Party, although the organisation was non-political in its membership and commitments.[1] The organisation became a driving force in supporting the 1915 rent strike, and its formation has been described as the major 'pre-war organizational effort' in support of the strikes.[7] In 1915 the Glasgow Women's Housing Association organised a number of meetings in Morris Hall on Shaw Street in Govan to protest rent increases across Glasgow.[8] The first of these meetings, on 16 February, was chaired by Laird and addressed by John S. Taylor, Patrick Dollan and Harry Hopkins.[1] Laird also played a prominent part in another meeting which took place in St Mungo's Halls.[8] In her role as Chair of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association, Laird criticised tenement housing, stating that these were a challenge for housewives, advocating instead the establishment of "cottage homes".[9]

Social activism

After her involvement in the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strikes, Laird became increasingly involved with the Labour Party and wider social activism. In 1915, the radical publication Forward urged that Laird be adopted as a municipal candidate for the Labour Party as a way of linking housing policy with a direct appeal to women voters.[10] In November 1916, as president of the Partick Branch of the Women's Labour League she presided over a meeting protesting the high prices of food, the cause of which she stated was "profiteering organisations".[11]

On May Day 1917, Laird spoke alongside Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan and Mrs. Ferguson at a rally at Glasgow Green attended by 70,000 people.[2][12] In April 1919, Laird was elected for Labour in School Board elections.[10] As member for Hillhead and Partick, she served on a number of committees responsible for children's welfare.[3]

Laird was appointed to the Women's Committee on House Planning in Scotland in 1918. The Committee had been established by the Secretary for Scotland, Robert Munro. [13] with the purpose of inspecting houses and making recommendations from the housewife;s point of view.[13].. Its Chair was Helen Kerr.[14]

In 1922 Mary became Treasurer of the Scottish Labour Housing Association.[3] She stood for election to the town council for Partick East in 1924, losing to the moderate candidate, Donald Fletcher[15] then in 1926 she became a member of the Glasgow Trades Council.[3]

Death and legacy

Laird died in Prestwick in 1944 aged 81.[16]

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References
  1. Melling, Joseph (1983). Rent strikes : peoples' struggle for housing in West Scotland, 1890-1916 (1. publ. ed.). Edinburgh: Polygon Books. ISBN 0904-919-72-2.
  2. ed. by Breitenbach, Esther (1992). Out of bounds : women in Scottish society, 1800-1945. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0372-7.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Wright, Valerie (2008). Women’s organisations and feminism in interwar Scotland (PDF) (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). University of Glasgow.
  4. Statutory Register of Marriages. National Records of Scotland.
  5. Census Returns. National Records of Scotland.
  6. "Royal Commission on the housing of the industrial population of Scotland Rural and Urban Volume II". 1913. p. 390.
  7. Castells, Manuel (1983). The city and the grassroots : a cross-cultural theory of urban social movements. London: E. Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6370-4.
  8. MacAskill, Kenny,. Glasgow 1919 : the rise of Red Clydeside. London. ISBN 978-1-78590-458-5. OCLC 1078875341.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "The Housing Question: Labour Conference in Glasgow". Glasgow Herald. 5 January 1915.
  10. Smyth, J. J. (2000). Labour in Glasgow, 1896 - 1936 : socialism, suffrage, sectarianism. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press. ISBN 1-86232-137-X.
  11. "Protest Against High Food Prices". The Evening Telegraph and Post. 14 November 1916.
  12. Duncan, Robert (2015). Objectors and Resisters: opposition to conscription and war in Scotland 1914 - 18. Common Print. pp. 136, 137. ISBN 9780993096518.
  13. "Planning of houses for the working class". The Scotsman. 27 June 1918.
  14. Harrison, Elaine (1988). Women members and witnesses on British Government ad hoc Committees of Enquiry 1850-1930, with special reference to Royal Commissions of Enquir (PhD thesis). London School of Economics and Political Science.
  15. "The Results". Glasgow Herald. 5 November 1924.
  16. Statutory Death Records. National Records of Scotland.
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