SHE was a formidable campaigner who successfully won more affordable rents and better housing in her home community.
Now a statue of Mary Barbour has been unveiled in front of hundreds of people at Govan Cross in Glasgow in a tribute to the key figure in the 1915 Rent Strikes.
Designed by Andrew Brown, the new statue celebrates Mary leading a 20,000-strong protest through the streets to Glasgow Sheriff Court.
She campaigned to improve housing and conditions for working people during the rent strikes in the First World War. They exposed and protested against landlords who took advantage of the wartime economy to hike up rents for workers and evicting those who could not pay.
Thousands of workers had flocked to Glasgow for jobs in the shipyards and munitions factories. But many property owners decided to raise rents for tenement flats as the demand for housing outstripped supply.
They believed women left behind by their husbands fighting overseas or in prisoner of war camps with be an easy touch. They were wrong – and instead fury erupted, resulting in the rent strike.
The city-wide rallies and demonstrations forced a change in the Government’s rent legislation.
Mary was then elected as one of the first woman councillors for Glasgow in 1920, and appointed the first woman Bailie of the City of Glasgow in 1924.
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