Glasgow Women's Housing Association

Last updated

Glasgow Women's Housing Association (GWHA) was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in mid-1914 by the Independent Labour Party Housing Committee launched by Andrew McBride in 1913 [1] and the Women's Labour League [2] in reaction to the increasing rent prices and overcrowding exacerbated by the advent of the First World War.

Contents

Glasgow Women's Housing Association
AbbreviationGWHA
PredecessorIndependent Labour Party Housing Committee, Women's Labour League
Formation1914
Founded at Glasgow, Scotland
Type Non-governmental organisation
Purposecampaigned for subsidised housing ; criticised profiteering by landlords; challenged the lack of municipal housing due to speculative urban development
MethodsRent Strikes; marches and speeches, protest leaflets and latterly engagement with the legislative process
Key people
 Mary Burns Laird, Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan, Helen Crawfurd, Jessie Ferguson

The Women's Labour League which included Jessie Ferguson and Mrs Nixon among its members promoted the formation of housing associations in each ward of the city affiliated to the GWHA. [1] GWHA was non-political [1] but campaigned for subsidised housing and criticised profiteering by landlords and the lack of municipal housing provision due to speculative urban development. The GWHA were instrumental in the organisation of the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915. and were described as a 'major pre-war organisational effort in support of the strikes'. [3] As a result of the rent strikes the Rent Act of 1915 was passed. [4]

Eventually GWHA assisted the improvement of the post war Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 for municipal social housing. [5]

Housing issues and rent strike

The majority of housing in Glasgow was in private hands, and in tenements: buildings with multiple occupants, a common stair or 'close' and toilet, with no internal sanitary facilities. [6] The industrial growth in shipbuilding and men called to the war effort, as well as a rapid population growth had so increased demands on housing that landlords could raise rents on their tenements' remaining residents. [7] Women who were often the main occupiers in practice, were faced with a rent increase of up to 25% and would be forcibly evicted by bailiffs if they failed to pay. [1] As a result of this rent increase, there was a popular backlash against the landlords and a rent strike was initiated. The GWHA led the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915 and at its peak the rent strike involved around 20,000 people, with the Glasgow women's influence extending to other working-class communities in the UK. [8]

As a result of the rent strikes in Glasgow and elsewhere in Britain, the Rent Act of 1915 was passed. [4]

Mary Burns Laird was GWHA first President and chaired the first meeting on 16 February 1915 [1] in Govan's Morris Hall. Other key figures in establishing GWHA include Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan who was the association's Treasurer, Helen Crawfurd, and Jessie Ferguson. Members of the GWHA were responsible for "violent attacks" [3] against House Factors (agents of landlords who collected rent) who were evicting families, and successfully gained support from factory workers to aid Mary Barbour and the GWHA in demanding a return of money from the Factor.

The GWHA had 3,000 members by the end of 1915. The members used banners during their protests, an example of which read:

Our Husbands Sons and Brothers are Fighting the Prussians of Germany.

We are fighting the Prussians of Partick.

Only Alternative: Municipal Housing.

Banner at the Great March in St. Enoch's Square, Glasgow 7th Oct, 1915. [3]

The GWHA were actively involved in protests during the Red Clydeside. On 17 November 1915, a large protest march of women, and male shipbuilders and engineers went through Glasgow to the Glasgow Sherriff Court, [9] which was where landlords were taking individual tenants to court to obtain eviction orders. [6] In May 1917, the GWHA leaders spoke at a rally on Glasgow Green to an audience of over 70,000. [10] [11] One of the speakers, GWHA Treasurer Agnes Dollan [12] was given a short prison sentence in 1917 for her actions in the rent strike. [13] The GWHA methods were copied in cities all over the UK, for example Dundee, Aberdeen, Leeds, Bradford, Edmonton, Barrow, Workington, Coventry and Birmingham. [6] [5]

Changes to town planning law

GWHA were eventually formally engaged directly with changing legislation through membership of the Secretary of State for Scotland's Scottish Women's Committee on House Planning during 1918. [14] Thus GWHA contributed to the passing of the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1919, which mandated local governments to build housing for citizens and allocated the funds to do so. [5]

Related Research Articles

Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a significant part of the history of the labour movement in Britain as a whole, and Scotland in particular.

Kilbarchan is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rent strike</span> Method of protest against landlords

A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent en masse until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This can be a useful tactic of final resort for use against intransigent landlords, but carries the risk of eviction and lowered credit scores in some cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Barbour</span> Scottish politician (1875-1958)

Mary Barbour was a Scottish political activist, local councillor, bailie and magistrate. Barbour was closely associated with the Red Clydeside movement in the early 20th century and especially for her role as the main organiser of the women of Govan who took part in the rent strikes of 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Dollan</span> Scottish politician, activist and writer (1885–1963)

Sir Patrick Joseph Dollan and his wife, Agnes, Lady Dollan were Glasgow activists in the Scottish Independent Labour Party. During the First World War they campaigned against the Munitions of War Act of 1915 which suspended trade unionists' rights for the duration of hostilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clyde Workers' Committee</span>

The Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. It was originally called the Labour Withholding Committee. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 together with John Muir for an article in the CWC journal The Worker criticising the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture in modern Scotland</span> Buildings in Scotland during the 20th and 21st century

Architecture in modern Scotland encompasses all building in Scotland, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the present day. The most significant architect of the early twentieth century was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who mixed elements of traditional Scottish architecture with contemporary movements. Estate house design declined in importance in the twentieth century. In the early decades of the century, traditional materials began to give way to cheaper modern ones. After the First World War, Modernism and the office block began to dominate building in the major cities and attempts began to improve the quality of urban housing for the poor, resulted in a massive programme of council house building. The Neo-Gothic style continued in to the twentieth century but the most common forms in this period were plain and massive Neo-Romanesque buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing in Scotland</span> Overview of housing in Scotland

Housing in Scotland includes all forms of built habitation in what is now Scotland, from the earliest period of human occupation to the present day. The oldest house in Scotland dates from the Mesolithic era. In the Neolithic era settled farming led to the construction of the first stone houses. There is also evidence from this period of large timber halls. In the Bronze Age there were cellular round crannogs and hillforts that enclosed large settlements. In the Iron Age cellular houses begin to be replaced on the northern isles by simple Atlantic roundhouses, substantial circular buildings with a drystone construction. The largest constructions that date from this era are the circular brochs and duns and wheelhouses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Crawfurd</span> Scottish suffragette, 1877–1954

Helen Crawfurd was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London.

The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Dollan</span> Scottish suffragette and political activist

Agnes Johnston Dollan MBE, also known as Agnes, Lady Dollan, was a Scottish suffragette and political activist. She was a leading campaigner during the Glasgow Rent Strikes, and a founding organiser of the Women's Peace Crusade. In 1919, she was the first woman selected by the Labour party to stand for election to Glasgow Town Council, and later became Lady Provost of Glasgow.

Mary 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. Laird went on to participate in wider social activism for women and children's rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restrictions) Act 1915</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest Act 1915 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which restricted increases in rent and the rate of mortgage interest during World War I. The Act was in place on 25 November 1915 with its restrictions retrospectively in place from 4 August 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Women's Peace Crusade</span> Social movement in Great Britain

The Women's Peace Crusade was a grassroots socialist movement that spread across Great Britain between 1916 and 1918. Its central aim was to spread a 'people's peace', which was defined as a negotiated end to the First World War without any annexations or indemnities. The movement was first established in Glasgow in July 1916, and officially launched on 10 June 1917. It later spread across Great Britain, with demonstrations taking place in Leeds, Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham and Lancashire. Although it gathered a substantial following, the Women's Peace Crusade faced opposition from both the government and police, with members being arrested and reportedly threatened.

South Govan Women's Housing Association was established in 1915 under the leadership by Mary Barbour in Govan on the south side of Glasgow in Scotland.

Red Skirts on Clydeside, produced in 1984, is the fifth documentary film made by the Sheffield Film Cooperative. It follows the process of rediscovering women's histories, focusing on the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915 and four of the women involved: Helen Crawfurd, Agnes Dollan, Mary Barbour, Jean Fergusson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Jeff</span> Scottish politician (1873–1941)

Mary Jeff (1873–1941) was a Scottish activist and politician who was involved in the Glasgow rent strike.

Agnes Helen Harben was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists.

Emily Elizabeth Swankie was a British activist and campaigner who participated in the National Hunger March from Glasgow to London to protest against poverty and unemployment in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1915 Glasgow rent strikes</span>

The 1915 Glasgow rent strikes were a series of tenant mobilizations by Glasgow, Scotland tenants opposing rent increases by landlords, who raised rents following a housing shortage.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Melling, Joseph (1983). Rent Strikes: People's Struggle for Housing in West Scotland 1890 - 1916. Glasgow: Polygon Books, Edinburgh. p. 40. ISBN   0-904919-72-2.
  2. ↑ Smyth, James, J. (1980). Women in Struggle: A Study of the Political Activity of Working - Class Women in Glasgow during the First World War (M.A. Dissertation). Glasgow: University of Glasgow. p. 10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 3 Castells, Manuel (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements. Berkeley & Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 32. ISBN   0-520-04756-7.
  4. 1 2 Wright, Valerie (2008). "Women's Organisations and Feminism in Interwar Scotland. PhD Thesis" (PDF). University of Glasgow.
  5. 1 2 3 Women and the making of built space in England, 1870-1950. Darling, Elizabeth., Whitworth, Lesley. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. 2007. ISBN   978-0-7546-5185-7. OCLC   72698696.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. 1 2 3 "Class War on the Homes Front: The Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915". Leftcom. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. ↑ Meek, Jeff (May 2016). "Boarding and lodging practices in early twentieth-century Scotland". Continuity and Change. 31 (1): 79–100. doi:10.1017/S0268416016000084. ISSN   0268-4160. S2CID   148118333.
  8. ↑ Craig, Maggie. (2011). When the Clyde ran red. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84596-735-2. OCLC   773281743.
  9. ↑ "Life of Mary Barbour celebrated". BBC News. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  10. ↑ Out of bounds : women in Scottish society 1800-1945. Breitenbach, Esther., Gordon, Eleanor. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1992. ISBN   0-7486-0372-7. OCLC   27348173.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ↑ Duncan, Robert, 1948- (2015). Objectors & resisters : opposition to conscription and war in Scotland 1914-18. [London]. ISBN   978-0-9930965-1-8. OCLC   956984646.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004. Ewan, Elizabeth., Innes, Sue., Reynolds, Sian. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2006. ISBN   978-0-7486-2660-1. OCLC   367680960.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ↑ Corr, Helen (2004). "Dollan [née Moir], Agnes Johnston, Lady Dollan (1887–1966), suffragette and socialist" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54395 . Retrieved 10 September 2020.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  14. ↑ "Planning of houses for the working class". The Scotsman. 27 June 1918.
Flag of Scotland.svg

This article related to the politics of Scotland is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.