`Homefront heroine’ elected to council

The reputation of one of Stirling’s `homefront heroines’ continued to grow in 1919.

Miss Grace Tasker, awarded an MBE for her work during World War One, was in November, 1919, elected to represent King Street ward in the Stirling Town Council and Parish Council elections.

She polled 293 votes and filled one of two vacancies for councillors in the ward.

During WW1, Miss Tasker headed an army of female volunteers who ran StirlingshireWork

Department, 20 Clarendon Place.

They collected and packaged donations of food and clothing parcels and sent them to soldiers from the area who were prisoners or serving on the frontline.

Many returning POWs said the food supplies kept them alive during their captivity.

The work department continued to operate after the Armistice, dispatching clothing for French men, women and children of all ages whose homes and properties had been destroyed in war.

Miss Tasker was the daughter of Capt Tasker, of the Board of Trade, Glasgow, and in a glowing tribute following her election, the Observer said: “There is no lady whose name is so well known in public work in Stirling – and particularly during the war.

“Her great record in connection with the Stirlingshire Work Depot and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Prisoners Fund is a household word.”

Before the war, she had organised an industrial work exhibition, associated with Stirling Cattle Show, and she was also an officer in the Girl Guides.

In April, 1918, Miss Tasker was elected to the Stirlingshire Education Authority for the Stirling Division.

`She was the only lady on that body of 32 members and her male colleagues paid her the compliment of appointing her convener of the medical inspection and treatment committee,’said the Observer.