(1880 – 1921)
Mary was a suffragist and trade unionist. Born in Glasgow, and starting life as a writer and journalist, she joined a trade union, and essentially never looked back. She was General Secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League and helped form the National Federation of Women Workers and the Anti-Sweating League. She supported and campaigned for 1000’s of workers paving the way for the 1909 Trade Board Act which saw, for the first time, legally enforceable minimum wages in the UK, particularly in specific ‘sweated’ trades – industries with long working hours, poor working conditions and low pay, many of which relied on women workers.
Here, her place is earned as the leader of Cradley Heath’s women chain workers, leading a ten-week strike in 1910, which resulted in a minimum wage being introduced in the industry, lifting workers out of abject poverty.
It is fitting that Mary’s sculptor is Luke Perry – who comes from a family of chain workers. The statue captures Mary cradling a baby in her left arms while holding a hammer in her right. Her multi-tasking is admirable if a little unsafe….
I struggle to get the circular text around the base of the statue into any type of decent picture. On the drive back home I realise I could have taken a video. Sigh.
Remember Ada Salter? She invited Mary to London to help organise the Bermondsey Uprising – a mass protest of 14,000 women striking for better pay and working conditions. Small world.
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