Antiquarians hear history of the Glasgow rent strikes
Chairman Harry Davidson welcomed Christine Quarrell to their June meeting. In all 40 antiquarians enjoyed meeting Christine and to see Harry chair his first meeting since last November, an absence due to illness, reports Norma Davidson.
Christine is a member of a group of 12 retired Glaswegians, the oldest being 80, who rejoice in the name of ‘People’s Past – People’s Future’. They are all members of other community groups and have a joint age of 750 years.
In 2014 they decided to stage a performance to mark International Women’s Day in 2015. The format was songs and poetry of resistance and politics together with spoken dia- logue mostly from a woman’s angle. Each group member researched one character of the day. Their first performance was to an audience of 200 – a wee bit of stage fright I expect. As 2015 was the centenary of the Glasgow rent strikes it was an obvious choice of subject. They all felt aggrieved as their research continued that they had not been taught anything during schooldays about this relevant part of their local, social history.
Protest posters
Christine decorated the hall with protest posters and T-shirts, the cast wore plain black bearing a facsimile with the name and dates of birth and death of the character they portrayed.
There are only 20 statues to females in Scotland and work is progressing to erect one to Mary Barbour. Mary was born in Kilbarchan in 1875 and moved eventually to Glasgow. She married David Barbour who was a shipyard worker. Her first born child died from meningitis, one of the diseases found in the poor conditions and overcrowding of the tenements.
When the menfolk went to war, the profiteering landlords increased their rents substantially. The women could not afford this and Mary organised an ‘army in pinnies’ who chased away and attacked the factors and rent collectors. Many, including Mary, served prison terms but the rent strikers won and later that year the Rent Restriction Act was passed. Mary now had a taste for battle and became a Labour councillor in 1920 and between 1924 and 1927 was Glasgow’s first woman baillie. She went on to become a magistrate and finally retired as a councillor in 1931. She continued to campaign for fair wages, good housing, children and women’s health, and supported the family planning clinics until her death, aged 82.
Other characters quoted were John McLean. Born in 1879 he became a teacher, served in the First World War, became a political activist for reform for which he served a term in prison. The war and ill-treatment in prison caused his death, aged 44.
Keir Hardie, born in 1856, was a socialist and a Christian. He was a strong supporter of women and styled himself the MP for the unemployed. He pressed Lloyd George, then prime minister, to introduce the Rent Restriction Act.
This was followed by two rather sad vignettes of serving soldiers in the trenches, one confused, fearful and worried about how his wife and family were coping, and the other worrying about the rent strike and telling the story of the ‘Christmas Truce’.
Fair wages
Mary Brooksbank, a trade unionist, daughter of an Aberdonian fisherwoman from the Aberdeen slums and mother of seven, worked in the Dundee jute mills. She led a strike for fair wages, was for 13 years a member of the Communist Party, was jailed twice and died in 1978 aged 81. She had been a rabble-rouser all her life and was proud of it.
There are still political campaigners – for example, Helen John, who started protesting at Greenham Common and is still active today.
Christine ended by playing us some protest songs and reading a poem called Easterhouse Woman.
So, how far have we come? We have a national health service, universal suffrage, strong women in politics, better sexual health and birth control for all, and improved living conditions. But Mary Barbour and her peers would be appalled at the child poverty and food banks of the 21st century. We have come a long way but still have a way to go.
Our next meeting is on Monday July 18 in Brodick Hall at 2pm when Robbie Glen will talk about Scottish Porridge – be warned, it is nothing to do with the breakfast cereal.