Anna Lindsay ('' née'' Dunlop; 24 June 1845 – 1 March 1903) was a Scottish women's activist. She was one of the founders of the Glasgow Association for the Higher Education of Women and her name was said to be synonymous with the women's movement in Scotland. She was the first chairperson of the

Scottish Women's Liberal Federation The Scottish Liberal Party, the section of the Liberal Party in Scotland, was the dominant political party of Victorian Scotland, and although its importance declined with the rise of the Labour and Unionist parties during the 20th century, it ...

Biography

Lindsay was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 1845, the eldest daughter of Eliza Esther (née Murray) and

Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop (27 December 1798 – 1 September 1870) was a Scottish church advocate and Liberal Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenock from 1852 to 1868. He was a very influential fi ...

, an MP and lawyer. She was educated at home, and went on to be one of the first students at the University Classes for Women in Edinburgh where she impressed her professors. The Glasgow Association for the Higher Education of Women was started after a suggestion of Mrs Jean Campbell by Professor John Nichol in 1868 to start lectures for women. Lindsay was one of its founders.K. D. Reynolds, ‘Lindsay , Anna (1845–1903)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 14 Oct 2017
/ref> In 1889, she used her membership of the Liberal Party to form a local women's association that was known as the ''Glasgow and West of Scotland Women's Liberal Association''. She was the Vice-Chair of the Association, and when, in 1891, it merged with other organisations to create the

(SWLF) she became its Chair. It was only her health that prevented her from continuing in that role after 1899. From 1901-3, she was a member of the Scottish Christian Union, independent but affiliated to the

British Women's Temperance Association The White Ribbon Association (WRA), previously known as the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), is an organization that seeks to educate the public about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as gambling. Founding of British Wom ...

. She also joined the

Glasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women's Suffrage The Glasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women’s Suffrage was an organisation involved in campaigning for women’s suffrage, based in Glasgow, with members from all over the west of Scotland. Formation The association met for t ...

Personal life

On the 8 October 1872, Lindsay married the academic

Thomas Martin Lindsay Thomas Martin Lindsay FRSE (1843–1914) was a Scottish historian, professor and principal of the Free Church College, Glasgow. He wrote chiefly on church history, his major works including ''Luther and the German Reformation'' (1900), and ''A His ...

and moved to live with him in Glasgow. Together they had five children, two daughters and three sons. Their daughter Susan married the medieval historian F. M. Powicke and their eldest son was Alexander Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker, who became a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, Master of Balliol College, and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

.
Lindsay, Alexander Dunlop, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker
', in

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

at oxforddnb.com(subscription site), accessed 20 June 2013 In 1903, Lindsay died in

Kelvinside Kelvinside is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde and is bounded by Broomhill, Dowanhill and Hyndland to the south with Kelvindale and the River Kelvin to the north. It is an affluent area of Gl ...

in Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Anna 1845 births 1903 deaths People from Edinburgh Scottish suffragists Scottish activists