Mary Gillon

Last updated
Mary Gillon Armistead
Born17 July 1898
Died2 January 2002(2002-01-02) (aged 103)
Nationality Scottish
Known forOne of the first female tram conductors in Scotland

Mary GillonArmistead (17 July 1898 to 2 January 2002) [1] was a Scottish tram conductress or clippie during World War I. [2]

Contents

Early life

Mary Gillon was born 17 July 1898 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Allan Anderson Gillon, a fishmonger, and Agnes Ewing. At 14 years old, she left school to start working at her father's fish shop in Portobello.

Career

After working in her father's shop, Gillon was employed at the Buttercup Dairy Company. She later joined Edinburgh's cable tram services as a tram conductress in 1916 at the age of 17. She was given a uniform, but would pair it with long steps as her skirt would often get wet. At each station, she had three minutes to turn the seats back in the direction of travel, clean the area for litter and search for lost items, and change the points and pull down the steps for the next passengers to enter. The shifts were long; they were nine hours and the late shift did not finish until 11:35 pm. Tram conductresses did not have time for a break; they ate their meals on the platform. [1]

She left her post after the war in August 1919 and went on to work at the Craigmillar Creamery.

Later life and death

Gillon married George Armistead, a motor lorry driver and joiner, on 12 June 1924.[ citation needed ]

She died in Perth, Scotland on 2 January 2002.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Knox</span> Scottish clergyman, writer and historian (1514–1572)

John Knox was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley</span> King consort of Scotland from 1565 to 1567

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder in 1567. Lord Darnley had one child with Mary, the future James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones. Less than a year after the birth of his son, Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as simply Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Tudor</span> Queen of Scotland from 1503 to 1513

Margaret Tudor was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter and second child of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of King Henry VIII of England. By her line, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the throne of England and Ireland, in addition to Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary of Guise</span> Queen of Scotland from 1538 to 1542

Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leith</span> Port district of Edinburgh, Scotland

Leith is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabella Bird</span> English explorer and writer (1831–1904)

Isabella Lucy Bishop was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-day Kashmir. She was also the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran</span> Scottish earl and regent (1537–1609)

James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (1537–1609) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier who opposed the French-dominated regency during the Scottish Reformation. He was the eldest son of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, sometime regent of Scotland. He was of royal descent, and at times was third or fourth in succession to the Scottish crown; several royal marriages were proposed for him, but he eventually never married. He went to France with Mary, Queen of Scots, where he commanded the Scots Guards. After returning to Scotland, he became a leader of the Protestant party against Mary and her French supporters. However, he went insane in 1562 and was confined for the rest of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus</span> Scottish nobleman and politician

Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus was a Scottish nobleman active during the reigns of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was the son of George, Master of Angus, who was killed at the Battle of Flodden, and succeeded as Earl of Angus on the death of his grandfather, Archibald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Young Pickersgill</span> Maker of the Star Spangled Banner Flag

Mary Pickersgill was the maker of the Star-Spangled Banner hoisted over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. The daughter of another noted flag maker, Rebecca Young, Pickersgill learned her craft from her mother, and in 1813 she was commissioned by Major George Armistead to make a flag for Baltimore's Fort McHenry that was so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a great distance. The flag was installed in August 1813 and, during the Battle of Baltimore a year later, Francis Scott Key could see the flag while negotiating a prisoner exchange aboard a British vessel and was inspired to pen the words that became the United States National Anthem in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes McLaren</span> British doctor (1837–1913)

Agnes McLaren FRCPI was a Scottish doctor who was one of the first to give medical assistance to women in India who, because of custom, were unable to access medical help from male doctors. Agnes was active in social justice causes including protests against the white slave trade. She signed the 1866 women's suffrage petition and was secretary of the Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage alongside her stepmother, Priscilla Bright McLaren. In 1873 she travelled with Priscilla and Jane Taylour to give suffrage lectures in Orkney and Shetland. Her father had supported the campaign of first women who sought to study medicine at University of Edinburgh and Agnes became friends with Sophia Jex-Blake, one of the Edinburgh Seven. Her father did not however, support Agnes' own ambitions in this area. And as she could not graduate in medicine in Scotland, she went to study in France and later, in order to be permitted to practice at home, became a member of the Royal College of Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Leith</span> 1560 Siege at Leith

The siege of Leith ended a twelve-year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. French troops arrived in Scotland by invitation in 1548. In 1560 the French soldiers opposed Scottish supporters of religious reformation, and an English army arrived to besiege the French garrison at Leith. The town was not taken by force and the French troops finally left peacefully under the terms of a treaty signed by Scotland, England and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Biagi (politician)</span> Scottish politician

Marco Biagi is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He served as the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment from 2014 to 2016, and as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Central from 2011 to 2016.

<i>Cymric</i> (schooner)

Cymric was a British and Irish schooner, built in 1893. She joined the South American trade in the fleet of Arklow, Ireland, in 1906. She served as a British Q-ship during the First World War; she failed to sink any German U-boats, but did sink a British submarine in error.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letitia Fairfield</span> British Australian medical doctor, and lawyer (1885–1978)

Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield MB CM MD was a medical doctor, a lawyer, a war-worker, and the first ever female Chief Medical Officer for London. She received a CBE for her outstanding achievements in medicine following her contributions in World War I, despite initially having been rejected by the War Office. Fairfield went on to work for the London County Council, where she campaigned for the initiation of new Public Health departments relating in particular to women's and children's health, and defending who she believed were the most vulnerable members of society. She was a feminist and a Fabian, and during her later life became a convert to Roman Catholicism and a believer in witchcraft.

Mary Rose Hill Burton was a British artist and conservationist. She was active in the failed protests against the location of a smelting plant at the Falls of Foyers, near Loch Ness, in Inverness-shire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hamilton Beattie</span> Scottish architect (1842–1898)

William Hamilton Beattie was a Scottish architect specialising in hotel design in the late 19th century.

Mary Docherty was a British activist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Born to a working-class family in Cowdenbeath, Scotland, she was influenced by the communist beliefs of her father, a miner, as well as by the poverty she grew up in. She joined the Communist Party at the age of 18, and in 1929 traveled to the Soviet Union as a Scottish delegate to a gathering of young communists. She founded a local children's wing of the Communist Party, carried out a successful agitation to declare 1 May a school holiday, and worked for communist Member of Parliament Willie Gallacher. She retired from active politics at the age of 60, but continued to give talks and write her memoirs, published in 1991 as A Miner's Lass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Anne MacLeod Trump</span> Mother of Donald Trump (1912–2000)

Mary Anne Trump was the wife of real-estate developer Fred Trump and the mother of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.

Mary Hill Burton (1819–1909) was a Scottish social and educational reformer and the first woman governor of Heriot-Watt College.

References

  1. 1 2 Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 163. ISBN   978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC   1057237368.
  2. Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean (1999). Museum, Media, Message. Psychology Press. p. 142. ISBN   978-0-415-19828-8.