Mrs Barbour's Army Transcript (Scotland: A Scottish History Podcast)
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MICHAEL PARK: Episode one, way back when I had no idea that this was going to turn into a ‘thing’, is called Riot Act and it covers the 1919 General Strike in Glasgow and the so-called Battle of George Square. This episode is going to go back to the early days of the movement that they called ‘Red Clydeside’ and maybe give you an idea of the mindset of the time.
Scotland - A Scottish History Podcast
Episode 8 - Mrs Barbour’s Army
MICHAEL PARK: It is March … 1915.
After months of trying to outflank one another using their trench systems, the opposing armies on the Western Front have reached the sea.
They have nowhere else to go. The war on the Western Front is becoming a stalemate with a massive influx of volunteer troops entering the trenches and creating impenetrable barriers of men, separated by a twisted, nightmarish No Man’s Land, pockmarked with shell holes, bodies and barbed wire.
Many of the volunteers arriving on the Western Front are from Glasgow. The city has a higher rate of voluntary signups for the Army than any other city in Britain - over one thousand men signed up in one day on 8th August 1914.
Many of the soldiers are arriving on the front to news that British forces have gone ‘over the top’ at the battle of Neuve Chappelle and won a victory against the Germans. They are probably less aware of the casualties.
Around 13,000 British and Indian soldiers died in that battle which set the precedent for the offensive grind which was to follow.
The volunteers have left their homes, their families, their jobs, to fight for their country.
As they huddle against the shredding shrapnel which tears through the air and the bodies around them, they might be thinking of those homes, families, jobs. Many have come here, not because they see the War as a ‘ripping good time’ but because joining the army gives them prospects for the future.
By 1915 around 13% of the British forces are Scottish. Army service pays better than most of the jobs available at home, and the housing conditions are getting worse for everyone. Industry’s declining and it’s not showing many signs of getting better.
This might be better.
It might be better.
You just have to live through it.
From Be Quiet Media, this is Scotland, a show about history and where we made it. I’m Michael Park.
As soldiers stood in their trenches thinking about home, home was becoming almost unrecognisable. The wartime industries were in full flow and people were moving to Scotland industrial centres in their droves to take up jobs to help the war effort. In Glasgow, a hundred thousand people were employed in shipbuilding on the Clyde, twenty thousand worked at the massive Parkhead Forge - the biggest steelworks in Scotland.
This massive influx of people caused problems. There were so many people and nowhere to put them. These people who had come to Glasgow with the intention of helping the war effort - and of course improving their own job prospects - were causing a housing crisis.
But the idea that everyone in the war was doing their bit, caught up in the patriotic fervour is a flat out lie. In every situation, no matter how bad it is, there will always be people on hand to take advantage. People who look to exploit others living in abject conditions. War profiteering happens in every single walk of life - but it was especially prevalent in housing.
Unscrupulous landlords, citing the overwhelming demand for housing, began to hike rents to the point that ordinary working class people couldn’t come close to affording them. They viewed the working women… the mothers of Glasgow with contempt - easy marks who, if they couldn’t pay, would simply be evicted.
These slumlords forgot the most important rule. The one that every Glaswegian knows in their bones.
You. don’t. mess. with a Glasgow maw.
Mid Roll
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Back to the show!
MICHAEL PARK: Many of the landlords and factors thought they were onto a winner. War was good for business and since good business is all about satisfying demand with supply, they believed that offering poor quality, overcrowded, unhygienic accommodation was perfectly acceptable: why repair things that people are willing to pay a premium for?
Why? Because you might incur the wrath of the Glasgow Women’s Housing Association which was set up “to bring women of all political parties into the agitation and drive for better housing in Glasgow”. You might even incur the wrath of Mary Barbour.
Landlords were evicting people from their homes left, right and centre and the ‘leading woman in Govan’ - quite frankly - had had enough. She began to mobilise the people of Govan into an effective deterrent and the tide began to turn.
Initially they protested by returning their rent cheques with the inflated rate scored out and the original rent filled in. The landlords would then send back the cheque, demanding that their rent must be paid in full or they would be forcibly evicted.
Mrs Barbour’s Army told them they were welcome to try.
The Glasgow Rent Strikes had begun.
Mary organised committees and organisations and the people mobilised, refusing to pay the increased rents. They would put signs in their windows, warning landlords to back off: RENT STRIKE. WE ARE NOT REMOVING.
Sheriff Officers entering a street with the intention of serving an eviction notice would be welcomed by the sound of a bell, rang by one of the women who had waited behind for the day. This would alert those going about their work or their daily business to stop what they were doing and return to the street to defend the homes they worked so hard to keep. The bailiffs would find themselves being pelted by flour bombs or whatever else they could get their hands on. If they couldn’t get their hands on flour, they weren’t above pulling down their trousers to humiliate them.
In one instance when Barbour found out that a factor had lied to a tenant to get her to pay the higher rent, she walked into the local shipyard and convinced the men to come out and stand in front of the office while she took the tenant to get her money back. They did. The factor folded like a deckchair in a hurricane.
By November 1915, 20,000 people were on Rent Strike in Glasgow and the protests were beginning to spread out across the UK. A factor in the Partick area of Glasgow made the exceptionally clever decision to prosecute some of their tenants who had refused to pay the rent increases. Thousands of people took to the streets, holding signs screaming ‘Rent Strikes: We’re not Removing’.
They weren’t removing, but they were coming for the landlords.
Within the month the government had passed the Rent Restriction Act which froze private rent rates at their pre-war level until the end of the war. It prevented a general strike and ensured that production for the war effort overseas could continue at pace.
It was a huge victory for the people and opened the eyes of many to the power of peaceful protest and collective community action.
After the war, with housing still scarce, landlords across the country again tried to raise rents but further protests forced more rent controls and, in 1919, the Addison Act was passed which introduced the idea of council houses.
The magnificent Mary Barbour inspired these people to fight for their rights and the former carpet printer from Govan was instrumental in bringing the landlords to shame. She went on to be a vital part of the Women’s Peace Crusade, a vocal group of anti-war suffragists calling for peace.
By 1920 she was actively involved in the Labour party and stood as a candidate in the Fairfield ward. A pioneering group of five women were elected to the Council, including Barbour and Eleanor Stewart from Maryhill as the first female Labour councillors in the city.
Barbour’s contribution to the city was astonishing. Not only did she spend her eleven years on the Council fighting tirelessly for the working people in her community, she also helped to create the first family planning clinic in the city, the 'Women’s Welfare and Advisory Clinic’, working to raise funds for its team of women doctors and nurses. She left the council in 1931 but didn’t give up her roles on committees for welfare and housing and remained involved in Co-operative Committees.
Mary Barbour was a force of nature and later in life began organising trips to the seaside for the children of poor people in the city. She passed away on 2nd April 1958 at the age of 83 and many of her achievements were glossed over until fairly recently when her incredible work was the subject of renewed interest.
In March 2018, a statue of Mary Barbour was unveiled at Govan Cross, just outside the subway station. A fitting testament to the woman who played a vital role in the lives of so many Glaswegians.
CREDITS
You’ve been listening to Scotland, it was written and produced by me, Michael Park, and is a production from Be Quiet Media. The score for this episode was by the human stealth bomber, Mitch Bain. Find him online and get more great songs — search for Mitch Bain Music on Facebook.
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing work of Dr Catriona Burness. You can access more fantastic resources about Mary Barbour online at: remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com
You can find out more about the show on our website, thisisscotland.co, and get in touch with any feedback you have for us on Twitter - @Scotland_Pod or we’re on Facebook if you search for Scotland - Scottish History Podcast