Agnes Dollan

Lady
Agnes Dollan
MBE
Born Agnes Johnston Moir
(1887-08-16)16 August 1887
Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland
Died 16 July 1966(1966-07-16) (aged 78)
Glasgow Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow
Cause of death cardiac failure
Nationality Scottish
Political party Independent Labour Party, Labour Party
Spouse(s) Patrick Dollan
Children 1 son, James H. Dollan
Parent(s) Anne Wilkinson, Henry Moir
Awards Member of the Order of the British Empire, awarded 1946

Lady Agnes Johnston Dollan MBE (née Moir) (16 August 1887 – 16 July 1966) was a Scottish suffragette and political activist. A leader of the Glasgow Rent Strikes, she was the first female Labour candidate to stand for election to Glasgow City Council.[1]

Early life

Dollan was born on Springburn Road in Springburn, Glasgow on 16 August 1887 to Anne Wilkinson and Henry Moir, a blacksmith in the locomotive works.[2] She was one of eleven children.[3] She attended school until the age of eleven and left to work in a factory. She later became a Post Office telephone operator[3] and joined the Women's Labour League, assisting Mary Reid Macarthur in creating a women's post office trade union. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union, an organisation campaigning to secure the vote for women.[4]

She met Patrick Dollan, a journalist and member of the Independent Labour Party, via the Clarion Scouts[5] and a year later they were married on 20 September 1912. Their only child, James, was born in 1913 and was exempted from religious instruction at school. He became a journalist.[6]

Rent strikes and Red Clydeside

Agnes Dollan became politically active during the Red Clydeside period of Glasgow's history as an organiser of the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strikes alongside Mary Barbour and Helen Crawfurd.[7] She worked to link the rent strikes movement with peace campaigns,[1] and as Treasurer of Glasgow Women's Housing Association led the campaign against Glasgow City Council's rent increases.[8] Dollan was jailed briefly in 1917 for protesting against high rents.[4]

She became a prominent figure in Glasgow politics and spoke at the 1917 May Day demo in Glasgow Green.[1]

She was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union and the Women's Labour League.

Political career

After joining the Independent Labour Party around 1915,[4] Agnes Dollan became the first female Labour candidate to stand for election to Glasgow City Council in January 1919.[1]

On 13 December 1921 she was elected in a by-election as the councillor to the Springburn. She successfully stood again for Council in 1922[9] and held the position until 1928.

She was the first Labour candidate to contest Dumfriesshire in the United Kingdom general election of 1924 however she was unsuccessful.[10][11]

She served on the Labour Party National Executive from 1922 to 1928, and resumed her seat in the 1930s after a period of illness prevented her from participating in political activities. She fought against the removal of the ILP from the Labour Party, however following the split she was appointed the first president of the Scottish Socialist Party's women's council in 1933.[4]

Her husband Patrick served as Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1938 to 1941 however when she attended events with him Agnes retained her own identity.[12] Harry McShane wrote in his autobiography, "Pat Dollan's wife was very active and, I always thought, better than he was; I'm convinced he killed her activity." [13]

Anti war activism

Alongside Helen Crawfurd and others she established both the Women's Peace Crusade in 1916[5] and the Glasgow branch of the Women's International League in 1915. Both noted speakers, Dollan and Crawfurd traveled around Scotland spreading the word about the League.[4]

Dollan later modified her anti-war stance in response to World War II, stating that "It was all very well to theorise under normal conditions but we were not living under such conditions today - we were facing a crisis which might mean general mobilisation".[4]

In 1946 she was awarded an MBE for and her war efforts. She later became a member of the Moral Re-Armament Movement.[1]

Death

Dollan died of heart failure on 16 July 1966 in Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose (2006-03-08). The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2660-1.
  2. ↑ "Red Clydeside: Election address of Agnes Dollan, Labour candidate for Springburn ward, page 1". gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 June Hannam; Karen Hunt (12 November 2012). Socialist Women: Britain, 1880s to 1920s. Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-134-76667-3.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Agnes Dollan". www.oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 Craig, Maggie (2011). When the Clyde ran red. Edinburgh: Mainstream. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-84596-735-2.
  6. 1 2 "Lady Dollan: Active Socialist Worker". The Glasgow Herald. 18 July 1966. p. 7. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Bambery, Chris (2014). A People's History of Scotland. London: Verso. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-78-168284-5.
  8. ↑ Darling, Elizabeth; Whitworth, Lesley, eds. (2007). Women and the making of built space in England, 1870-1950. Aldershot [u.a.]: Ashgate. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7546-5185-7. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Municipal election: Many contests in Glasgow: Opposition to Labour". The Glasgow Herald. 2 October 1922. p. 6. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "Dumfriesshire: Party activity". The Glasgow Herald. 4 May 1929. p. 5. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "Declarations To-Day". The Times (43796). London. 30 October 1924. col 4, p. 8. (subscription required (help)).
  12. ↑ "An Editorial Diary: No Lady Provost". The Glasgow Herald. 25 May 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  13. ↑ McShane, Harry; Smith, Joan (1978). Harry McShane: No Mean Fighter. Pluto Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0904383294.
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