Mary Muirhead Paterson (23 June 1864 – 10 June 1941) was a British factory inspector and philanthropist. She was one of the first two women

factory inspector A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

s and the first woman to prosecute in a Scottish court.

Life

Paterson was 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 ...

in 1864 into a prosperous family. Her parents were Gavin and Annie Paterson. She obtained a first-class education in Scotland but she was not awarded a degree, as women were not allowed to graduate. She had been one of the first women to be admitted to Queen Margaret College in Glasgow. She took an interest in the conditions that employees had to work in and under her own steam she researched the contemporary conditions in Scotland, Canada and the United States. She went to America with her uncle, Dr Henry Muirhead. Her uncle was a strong supporter of women's education and he left an endowment for that purpose when he died. In 1893 she and

May Tennant Margaret Edith (May) Tennant, Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (1869 – 11 July 1946), née Abraham, born in Rathgar, County Dublin, Ireland, was a civil servant, trade unionist, factory inspector, and campaigner, who worked ...

were the first two women to become

s earning £200 a year. They were known as "Lady Inspectors" and they were employed in a special department and paid less than their male counterparts. Factory Inspectors had existed since 1833 but for the first sixty years they were all men. This was a powerful role giving them authority over factory managers and owners. Women were appointed to these jobs because of pressure from trade unions and from a Royal Commission which recommended that women should take on this role. Her job involved enforcing the

Truck Act Truck Acts is the name given to legislation that outlaws truck systems, which are also known as "company store" systems, commonly leading to debt bondage. In England and Wales such laws date back to the 15th century. History The modern success ...

which obliged employers to pay their workers in cash. She was promoted in 1903 and again in 1906 when she was also moved to London. She was the first woman to prosecute in a Scottish court. In 1911 the

National Insurance Act The National Insurance Act 1911 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 55) created National Insurance, originally a system of health insurance for industrial workers in Great Britain based on contributions from employers, the government, and the workers themselves. ...

was passed that established a link between government and private insurance companies. Paterson became a national health insurance commissioner for Scotland in 1912. She was one of the first people appointed and she worked in that role until 1919. During

World War I 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 ...

, Paterson also served as secretary of the Scottish Committee on Women's Employment, and visited Dundee where she was impressed by the volunteers of the Dundee Women's War Relief Executive Committee's led by

Mary H. J. Henderson Mary H J Henderson (born 1874 – 6 November 1938) was an administrator with Elsie Inglis's Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in the Balkans in World War I, earning five medals. She founded social work and civic groups led by women, ...

, included setting up a toy factory which employed and trained women and also made grant payments to unemployed women. Paterson died at her home in

Lasswade Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville Castle lies to the north ...

in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Mary 1864 births 1941 deaths Civil servants from Glasgow 19th-century British civil servants 20th-century British women civil servants 20th-century Scottish civil servants Scottish women civil servants Factory inspectors 19th-century Scottish people 19th-century Scottish women