Helen Crawfurd ( Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

rent strike A rent strike, sometimes known as a tenants strike or a renters strike, is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants agree to collectively withhold paying some or all of their rent to the ...

organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born 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 ...

, she was brought up there and in London.

Biography

Born Helen Jack at 175 Cumberland Street in the

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...

area of Glasgow, her parents were Helen L. ( Kyle) and William Jack. Her mother worked a steam-loom before she wed. Helen's family moved to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

while she was young. Crawfurd later went to school in London and Ipswich before moving back to Glasgow as a teenager. Crawfurd's father, a master baker, was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, but converted to the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

and became a conservative

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist. Initially religious herself and a Sunday School teacher, Crawfurd felt a call to be married at 21 to the 67-year-old widower Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (29 August 1828 – 31 May 1914), a Church of Scotland minister and family friend. However, she became increasingly radical, after witnessing injustices, and what she deemed to be "un-Christian" behaviour from the Church.A. T. Lane, ed., ''Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders, Vol. 1'', pp. 224–226. For example, not helping widows financially before they had sold all their belongings in their home. Alexander died, aged 85, at 17 Sutherland Street in Partick, Glasgow. In 1944, Crawfurd remarried, to widower George Anderson of Anderson Brothers Engineers,

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

. Her second husband was a member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

. George Anderson died on 2 February 1952 and Crawfurd two years later at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.

Political activity

Crawfurd first became active in the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

movement in about 1900, then in 1910 at a meeting in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

. Agreeing with their tactics, Crawfurd became a member of the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

(WSPU) the same year. Crawfurd was jailed three times for "militant" political activity during her career as an activist. In 1912, Crawfurd smashed the windows of

Jack Pease Joseph Albert Pease, 1st Baron Gainford (17 January 1860 – 15 February 1943), known as Jack Pease, was a British businessman and Liberal politician. He was a member of H. H. Asquith's Liberal cabinet between 1910 and 1916 and also served ...

, Minister for Education, and received a one-month prison sentence. In March 1914, Crawfurd was arrested in Glasgow when

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

was speaking. She received another month in prison and went on an eight-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

. She spoke at the Music Hall, Aberdeen on 26 February 1914, in favour of militarism. But after one further arrest, Crawfurd left the WSPU in protest at its support 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 ...

and in 1914 she joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

(ILP).

During WWI, Crawfurd was involved with 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 ...

movement, including the Glasgow rent strikes in 1915 when she led the

South Govan Women's Housing Association South Govan Women's Housing Association was established in 1915 under the leadership by Mary Barbour in Govan on the south side of Glasgow in Scotland. The Glasgow Rent strikes began in response to rent increases in Glasgow during the First Worl ...

to resist rent increases and prevent evictions, alongside

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 ...

Mary Laird Mary Laird ( Burns; died 1944) was a founding member and first President of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association, a President of the Partick Branch of the Women's Labour League, associated with the Red Clydeside movement, and supported the ...

Mary Jeff Mary Jeff (1873–1941) was a Scottish activist and politician who was involved in the Glasgow rent strike. Early life and education Mary Jeff was born Mary Russell Watson in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire in 1873. She moved to Govan in 1896, and liv ...

Jessie Stephens Jessie Stephens (born 21 December 1990) is an Australian writer, editor, novelist, television presenter and podcast host. She is an executive editor for ''Mamamias flagship podcast ''Mamamia Out Loud'' and co-hosts the show with Mia Freedman ...

and

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 ...

. Crawfurd had co-founded the Glasgow branch of the Women's International League and become secretary of

the Women's Peace Crusade The Women's Peace Crusade was a grassroots Socialism, socialist movement that spread across Great Britain between 1916 and 1918. Its central aim was to spread a 'people's peace', which was defined as a negotiated end to the World War I, First W ...

. By then she had met

Agnes Harben Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists. Family Harben was born on 15 ...

and others, who held the same international perspectives. On 23 July 1916, Crawfurd organised the first demonstration of the Women's Peace Crusade, which was attended by 5,000. Crawfurd formed a branch of the

United Suffragists The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. History The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it admi ...

in Glasgow. These women used the realms of domesticity entrenched within society to support their campaign, known as "Wives and Weans Socialism".

The End of WWI

In 1918, Crawfurd was elected as vice-chair of the Scottish division of the

(ILP), and was said to be a convincing speaker when she spoke in the Market Place at the branch meeting in Loftus. Shortly afterwards, Crawfurd became a founder member of the ILP's left-wing faction, which was campaigning for it to affiliate to the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Crawford went to Moscow in 1920, with

Marjory Newbold Marjory Newbold (25 May 1883 – 15 November 1926) was a leading Scottish socialist and communist, prominent in the Independent Labour Party and in the 'Red Clydeside' movement demanding reforms for the working class. Newbold organised pacifist a ...

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (; 5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was an English Feminism, feminist and Socialism, socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise worki ...

, Willie Gallacher and others for the Congress of the Third Communist International and interviewed

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. When the affiliation policy was defeated, Crawfurd joined the new

(CPGB). She served on its Central Committee and involved herself in various journalistic projects. She also became secretary of Workers' International Relief. In 1919, Crawfurd was a delegate to the Congress of the Women's International League in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Crawfurd ran in 1921 as the first Communist Party candidate in the

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 ...

ward of Glasgow. In 1927, Crawfurd was an official delegate to the Brussels International Conference against Oppressed Nationalities, at which the

League against Imperialism The League Against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (; ) was a transnational anti-imperialist organisation in the interwar period. It has also been referred to as the League of Oppressed People, and the World Anti-Imperialist League, or simp ...

was established. Crawfurd joined the executive of the British section. Crawfurd stood for the CPGB in

Bothwell Bothwell () is a Protected area, conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland and part of the Greater Glasgow area. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton, ...

at the 1929 general election, and Aberdeen North in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, but did not come close to being elected. During the 1930s, Crawfurd was prominent in the Friends of the Soviet Union. She unsuccessfully stood for

Dunoon Dunoon (; ) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the cou ...

Town Council in 1938. However, she was elected as Dunoon's first woman town councillor shortly after the war, but retired from it in 1947 due to poor health. Helen Crawfurd (by then Mrs Anderson) died in 1954 at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.

Awareness of her role

Crawfurd was included in a series of posters in 2019 and an educational resource called ''Scotland's Suffrage Education Pack''. The education pack included a

Top Trumps ''Top Trumps'' is a card game first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent's card. A wide variety of different packs of ''Top Tru ...

-style game called ''Scotland's Suffragettes Trumps'', produced by

Protests and Suffragettes A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

(an organisation led by artists, activists and local historians) by

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

to send 700 sets to schools. Women's History Scotland's Dr. Yvonne McFadden called the game 'a fun and important tool to make sure these women and their stories' are included in the Scottish school curriculum, as women's history is often limited in school history teaching. Crawfurd was also memorialised in 2024 in stained glass window by Artist Keira McLean in Glasgow's Woodside Library, working with young people from the local community. The window also features Suffragette Jessie Soga and was co-designed with young people from SiMY Community Development in Townhead. Artist McLean said "there are so many forgotten histories of people who made a real difference' to Glasgow, and that the window is "restoring the neglected histories of communities often marginalised or dismissed.” The unveiling of the window took place at an event hosted by

Glasgow Life Glasgow Life is the principal trading name and brand of Culture and Sport Glasgow, a charity based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is an Arms' Length External body from Glasgow City Council, with operating responsibility for managing the arts, music, ...

on 5 September 2024 and featured new musical arrangements by Musician Lorna Morgan of the Holloway Jingles poems written by imprisoned suffragettes. Historical information about Jessie Soga and Helen Crawfurd was shared by Clare Thompson from Protests and Suffragettes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawfurd, Helen 1877 births 1954 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain councillors Councillors in Scotland People from Gorbals Scottish pacifists Red Clydeside Scottish communists 19th-century Scottish women 20th-century Scottish women Scottish socialist feminists Pacifist feminists Scottish suffragettes Scottish anti-war activists Women councillors in Scotland 20th-century Scottish women politicians 20th-century Scottish politicians 20th-century British women politicians Women's Social and Political Union Women's Peace Crusade

Biography

Political activity

The End of WWI

Awareness of her role

Further reading

References