Jenny Kerr Hyslop born Janet Kerr Reid (13 July 1898 – 13 September 1989) was a Scottish community leader, co-operative worker and disability activist.
Early life
Hyslop was born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow in 1898. She was the last of three children born to Mary Kerr Hyslop and Thomas Reid. One of her first jobs was delivering milk as her family owned two shops on the south side of Glasgow. In 1921 she married and moved to Clydebank.
Career
Rent strike
When she arrived in Clydebank their neighbours were involved in a rent strike. There was a history of rent strikes and they had led in 1915 to the Rents and Mortgage Interest Restriction Act. Now in 1921, there was a new set of laws and Hyslop was asked to pay her rent but to refuse to pay any increases. She took a lead in the rent strike. When people came to enforce and evict tenants they would ring bells to make everyone aware.
Clydebank Co-operative Society
The Clydebank Co-operative Society Limited is the smallest consumers' co-operative in Scotland, based in the town of Clydebank near Glasgow. Along with Scotmid and The Co-operative Group, it is one of three consumer co-operative retail societie ...
. During the Second World War she became an ARP Warden and she was one of few women promoted to be section heads. On 13 and 14 March 1941 the Clydebank Blitz took place and her house was destroyed. Of the 12,000 houses in Clydebank only eight were undamaged. Hyslop was working through this when 35,000 people lost their place to live. Her ARP headquarters at Radnor Park Church Hall took in 60 casualties after the nearby first aid post caught fire. There was no doctor, but a team of final year medical students arrived from Glasgow's Western Infirmary.
Disablement Advisory Committee Disablement Advisory Committees were established in the United Kingdom by the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944. This was the first attempt to address the question of the employment of disabled people as a whole.
One was established for each ...
. She was annoyed that schools for disabled people only took those who were deemed teachable. One of her children had a disability and she was annoyed that disabled children were not seen in a normal community. Her organisation used its 170 members to found a new home on the Drumry Road in Clydebank which opened in 1978.
Personal life
In 1978 she was awarded Scotswoman of the Year by the
Evening Times
The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.Canniesburn Hospital in 1989.