Isabella (Bella) Lappin (1880-1961) was a political activist and local councillor in Clydebank, Scotland, associated with Red Clydeside and one of its leading figures, Davie Kirkwood. In 1919 she was one of a small number of women in Scotland who stood as candidates in the first municipal elections held in 1919 after the extension of the franchise arising from the Representation of the People Act 1918. [1] Not as well known as her contemporary and colleague Jane Rae, she did however have a longer and more extensive career. [2]
Born in 1880 on the southside of Glasgow, Bella Williams, met and married her husband, William in Clydebank; both gave addresses a few doors down from each other in Trafalgar Street, Dalmuir. Bella worked in a fishmonger, William as a grocer for the Co-operative. They married in St Stephen’s, Dalmuir in September 1909. [3]
Lappin was elected as an Independent Labour Councillor to Clydebank Burgh Council in 1919. For the next thirty or more years she was involved in politics, locally and nationally. She served as a member of the Executive of the Scottish Labour Party, [4] was a leader in the Women's Guild of the Co-operative movement, [5] served on the local government Education Committee [6] and on the local executive branch of the National Health Service. [7] During the period of the Rent Strike she was Treasurer of the local branch of the Scottish Labour Housing Associations. [8]
A 1925 correspondent to The Suffragist wrote to correct the record that Glasgow had appointed the first women Ballies in Scotland. At that time two out of five Baillies in Clydebank, were women: Jane Rae and Bella Lappin. [9]
In celebrations marking Red Clydesider David Kirkwood's 25 years as an MP in 1948, 400 people gathered in Clydebank Town Hall. Among the speeches of congratulations, Bella Lappin was the only woman speaker [10] since she had been among the first to propose Kirkwood as a parliamentary candidate in 1918.
In 1951, now aged 70, Bella was a key speaker at an 'eve of poll' Labour Party rally supporting the Labour candidate Mr Bence against a novice Conservative candidate William Whitelaw. [11]
Bella died in January 1961 and is buried in Clydebank. [12]
Milngavie is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about ten kilometres from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngavie is a commuter town, with much of its working population travelling to Glasgow to work or study. The town is served by Milngavie railway station on the North Clyde Line of the SPT rail network, which links it to Central Glasgow.
East Dunbartonshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East Dunbartonshire contains many of the affluent areas north of Glasgow, including Bearsden, Milngavie, Milton of Campsie, Balmore, and Torrance, as well as many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. The council area covers parts of the historic counties of Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Stirlingshire.
David Kirkwood, 1st Baron Kirkwood, PC, was a Scottish politician, trade unionist and socialist activist from the East End of Glasgow, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for nearly 30 years, and was as a leading figure of the Red Clydeside era.
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.
Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirlingshire to the east, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire to the south, and Argyllshire to the west.
Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas of the adjacent City of Glasgow immediately to the east. Depending on the definition of the town's boundaries, the suburban areas of Duntocher, Faifley and Hardgate either surround Clydebank to the north, or are its northern outskirts, with the Kilpatrick Hills beyond.
Bearsden is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the northwestern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately 6 miles (10 km) from the city centre.
Provost is a title held by the civic heads of local governments in Scotland. It is similar in use to the title of mayor in other parts of the English-speaking world.
Gilbert Martin Paterson is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician, who served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Clydebank and Milngavie, from 2011 to 2021. Previously he had been an MSP for the West of Scotland region, having been elected on 3 May 2007. From 1999 to 2003 he was an MSP for Central Scotland.
East Dunbartonshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The seat is possibly best known for formerly being the constituency of Jo Swinson, the former Leader of the Liberal Democrats who was defeated at the 2019 general election. The current MP for the constituency is Amy Callaghan of the Scottish National Party (SNP).
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.
Dumbarton is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering parts of the council areas of Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of ten constituencies in the West Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Roza Salih is a Kurdish-born, Scottish politician and human rights activist. In 2005, at the age of 15, she co-founded the Glasgow Girls with fellow pupils from Drumchapel High School. The Glasgow Girls campaigned to stop the UK Border Agency carrying out dawn raids and detaining and then deporting children, successfully preventing the deportation of their school friend, Agnesa Murselaj, a Roma from Kosovo. Salih, who was born in Southern Kurdistan, is a co-founder of Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan.
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.
Rona Mackay is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Strathkelvin and Bearsden since the Scottish Parliamentary elections in May 2016.
There was a Scottish National Party leadership election to choose the new Depute leader of the Scottish National Party at the SNP's conference on 14–15 October 2016. The SNP's Westminster Group Leader Angus Robertson MP won the election.
Jane Rae was a British political activist, suffragist, councillor and justice of the peace. She was one of the activists involved in the 1911 all-out strike at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in Clydebank. She was also active in the women's suffrage movement and in the Clydeside Rent Strike. She became Branch Secretary of the Clydebank branch of the Independent Labour Party, and served as a Labour councillor for Clydebank Town Council from 1922 to 1928. She is commemorated with a plaque in the gardens of Clydebank Town Hall.
Mary Jeff (1873–1941) was a Scottish activist and politician who was involved in the Glasgow rent strike.
Marie McNair is a Scottish National Party (SNP) who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Clydebank and Milngavie since May 2021.