Glasgow Women's Housing Association (GWHA) was established in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, in mid-1914 by the Independent Labour Party Housing Committee launched by Andrew McBride in 1913 and the

Women's Labour League The Women's Labour League (WLL) was a pressure organisation, founded in London in 1906, to promote the political representation of women in parliament and local bodies. The idea was first suggested by Mary Macpherson, a linguist and journalist wh ...

in reaction to the increasing rent prices and overcrowding exacerbated by the advent of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Women's Labour League which included Jessie Ferguson and Mrs Nixon among its members promoted the formation of housing associations in each ward of the city affiliated to the GWHA. GWHA was non-political but campaigned for subsidised housing and criticised profiteering by landlords and the lack of municipal housing provision due to speculative urban development. The GWHA were instrumental in the organisation of the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915. and were described as a 'major pre-war organisational effort in support of the strikes'. As a result of the rent strikes the Rent Act of 1915 was passed. Eventually GWHA assisted the improvement of the post war

Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 The Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 35) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was also known as the Addison Act after Minister of Health, Christopher Addison, who was Minister for Housing. The Act was ...

for municipal social housing.

Housing issues and rent strike

The majority of housing in Glasgow was in private hands, and in

tenements A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

: buildings with multiple occupants, a common stair or 'close' and toilet, with no internal sanitary facilities. The industrial growth in shipbuilding and men called to the war effort, as well as a rapid population growth had so increased demands on housing that landlords could raise rents on their tenements' remaining residents. Women who were often the main occupiers in practice, were faced with a rent increase of up to 25% and would be forcibly evicted by

bailiffs A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

if they failed to pay. As a result of this rent increase, there was a popular backlash against the landlords and a rent strike was initiated. The GWHA led the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915 and at its peak the rent strike involved around 20,000 people, with the Glasgow women's influence extending to other working-class communities in the UK. As a result of the rent strikes in Glasgow and elsewhere in Britain, the Rent Act of 1915 was passed. Mary Burns Laird was GWHA first President and chaired the first meeting on 16 February 1915 in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

's Morris Hall. Other key figures in establishing GWHA include

Mary Barbour Mary Barbour ( Rough; 20 February 1875 – 2 April 1958) was a Scotland, Scottish Activism, political activist, local councillor, bailie and magistrate. Barbour was closely associated with the Red Clydeside movement in the early 20th century ...

Agnes Dollan Agnes Johnston Dollan MBE ( Moir; 16 August 1887 – 16 July 1966), also known as Agnes, Lady Dollan, was a Scottish suffragette and political activist. She was a leading campaigner during the Glasgow Rent Strikes, and a founding organis ...

who was the association's Treasurer,

Helen Crawfurd Helen Crawfurd ( Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London. Biography Born Helen Jack ...

, and Jessie Ferguson. Members of the GWHA were responsible for "violent attacks" against House Factors (agents of landlords who collected rent) who were evicting families, and successfully gained support from factory workers to aid Mary Barbour and the GWHA in demanding a return of money from the Factor. The GWHA had 3,000 members by the end of 1915. The members used banners during their protests, an example of which read:

''Our Husbands Sons and Brothers are Fighting the Prussians of Germany.'' ''We are fighting the Prussians of
Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...
.'' ''Only Alternative: Municipal Housing.'' _{Banner at the Great March in St. Enoch's Square, Glasgow 7th Oct, 1915.}

The GWHA were actively involved in protests during the

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was an era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. It also referred to the area around the city on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley. Red C ...

. On 17 November 1915, a large protest march of women, and male shipbuilders and engineers went through Glasgow to the Glasgow Sherriff Court, which was where landlords were taking individual tenants to court to obtain eviction orders. In May 1917, the GWHA leaders spoke at a rally on

Glasgow Green Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge. History In ...

to an audience of over 70,000. One of the speakers, GWHA Treasurer Agnes Dollan was given a short prison sentence in 1917 for her actions in the rent strike. The GWHA methods were copied in cities all over the UK, for example

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

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Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Barrow,

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and

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Changes to town planning law

GWHA were eventually formally engaged directly with changing legislation through membership of the Secretary of State for Scotland's Scottish Women's Committee on House Planning during 1918. Thus GWHA contributed to the passing of the Housing and Town Planning Act of 1919, which mandated local governments to build housing for citizens and allocated the funds to do so.

References

Housing rights organizations in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Glasgow 1914 establishments in Scotland Defunct organisations based in Scotland Women in Glasgow {{Scotland-poli-stub