Margaret Hardinge Irwin

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(13 January 1858 – 23 January 1940) was a

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and Scottish labour activist who held important posts in the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

movement.

Early life

Irwin was born off the coast of

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on board the ship ''Lord Hardinge'', from which she took her middle name. Her father James Ritchie Irwin was the captain of the ''Lord Handinge''. She grew up in

Broughty Ferry Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until ...

in Forfarshire, and was educated privately and at the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...

, then studied at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, from which she received a "

Lady Literate in Arts A Lady Literate in Arts (LLA) qualification was offered by the University of St Andrews in Scotland for more than a decade before women were allowed to graduate in the same way as men, and it became popular as a kind of external degree for women w ...

" (LLA) degree, followed by attendance at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

and Queen Margaret College. She then became involved in the women's rights movement, and also bought and ran a fruit farm in Blairgowrie.

Activism

In 1891, Irwin became the full-time Scottish organiser of the Women's Protective and Provident League, then in 1895 became the secretary of the

Scottish Council for Women's Trades The Scottish Council for Women's Trades was an organisation in the early 1900s that campaigned for improvements in the working conditions of women. The organisation was originally formed in 1894 as the Glasgow Council for Women's Trades. After two ...

(SCWT). In this role, she campaigned for the creation of the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the National trade union center, national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation ...

(STUC) and, when it was created in 1897, she was elected as its first secretary. However,

Robert Smillie Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the La ...

became unhappy that she did not focus much attention on the campaign for an eight-hour day, and in 1900, Irwin decided not to stand for re-election. However, she remained secretary of the SCWT, and frequently served as its delegate to the STUC over the next decade. One of her main interests was the conditions for women who worked at home. It had been found that the economic condition of these workers was about as desperate as it could well be. There were occasional instances of ability to earn a decent living, but on the whole wages were extremely small, and the hours of labour extremely long. The Glasgow Council for Women's Trades worked with

John McAusland Denny Colonel John McAusland Denny (29 November 1858 – 9 December 1922) was a Scottish businessman and Conservative Party politician. Denny was born in Helenslee, Dumbarton, one of eight sons of Dr. Peter Denny. His grandfather William Denny fo ...

to introduce a bill for the "compulsory provision of seats behind the counter for lady assistants in shops" that became the Seats for Shop Assistants Act 1899. The Glasgow Council for Women's Trades under her chairmanship, also delivered lectures on the

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

of shopping. The meeting, chaired by Watson Reid heard that "There was no such things as a bargain, because if a thing was produced at less than the current rate somebody had to pay for it. The remedy for this sweating and ill-payment was exclusive preferential dealing with shops where fair conditions prevailed and the religious boycotting of any shop where these were not to be found" Irwin was a founding member and secretary of 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 th ...

. She was nominated by the association to attend the National Convention for the Civil Rights of Women, held in London on 16 and 17 October 1903. She resigned from this group in 1907, to join the more militant

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

, and addressed the new Hillhead branch of the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access ...

in 1908.

Later life

By the 1920s, Irwin was focusing much of her time on the fruit farm, developing model housing for workers there. She was elected as a fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

, and was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1927. The SCWT dissolved in 1939, and Irwin died the following year.

Publications

* * * Irwin, Margaret Hardinge (1893) The conditions of women's work in laundries : report of an inquiry conducted for the Council of the Women's Protective and Provident League of Glasgow. * Irwin, Margaret Hardinge (1896) Women's industries in Scotland : read before the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 18 March 1896. From the Proceedings of the

Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow is a learned society established in 1802 "''for the improvement of the Arts and Sciences''" in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It runs a programme of lectures, starting its 220th Series in October 2021. ...

* Irwin, Margaret Hardinge (1900) Home work amongst women : report of an inquiry conducted for the Glasgow Council for Women's Trades. * Irwin, Margaret Hardinge & Smith, George Adam (1902) The problem of home work. * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Margaret 1858 births 1940 deaths People from Broughty Ferry People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Commanders of the Order of the British Empire General Secretaries of the Scottish Trades Union Congress Scottish women trade unionists Scottish suffragists People associated with Glasgow Women's Social and Political Union 19th-century Scottish women 20th-century Scottish women Scottish suffragettes