Mary Laird

Biography

Laird was a prominent Labour activist and patron of the Women's Labour League, and in 1914 became one of the founders of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association.

The Glasgow Women's Housing Association was formed on the eve of the First World War in 1914 with support from the Women's Labour League and the Housing Committee of the Glasgow Labour Party, although the organisation was non-political in its membership and commitments. The organisation became a driving force in supporting the 1915 rent strike, and its formation has been described as the major 'pre-war organizational effort' in support of the strikes. In 1915 the Glasgow Women's Housing Association organised a number of meetings at the Morris Hall in Glasgow in protest at rent increases in Glasgow. The first of these, in February, was chaired by Laird and addressed by John S. Taylor, Patrick Dollan and Harry Hopkins.

After her involvement in the Rent strikes, Laird became increasingly involved with the Labour Party and wider social activism. In 1915, the radical publication Forward urged that Laird be adopted as a municipal candidate for the Labour Party as a way of linking housing policy with a direct appeal to women voters. On May Day 1917 Laird spoke alongside Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan and Mrs Ferguson at a rally at Glasgow Green attended by 70,000 people. In April 1919 Laird was elected for Labour in School Board elections.