Rebel Britannia

17th November 1915:

Mrs Barbour's Army had a slogan, displayed in the windows of thousands of supporters: "We Are Not Removing." They didn't rely just on posters, though; they also pulled people's trousers down. Why? because they were British. That's what we British do - we protest the iniquities of capitalism and we pull people's trousers down.

The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 saw Glasgow become a busy centre of munitions manufacturing and shipbuilding. Workers from far away began to migrate to the city for jobs, and so the demand for housing soon outpaced supply. The city's private landlords had a brilliant idea: they could massively increase their rents, and if the existing tenants couldn't pay they'd just kick them out and replace them with new ones. Many of the men who lived in the flats were away fighting, so it's not as if there'd be any resistance. Foolproof. Well, it would have been, if it wasn't for those damned women.

The Glasgow Women's Housing Association was formed, with branches in each ward, not just to campaign against rent rises but also to force landlords to carry out repairs, and to agitate for more council housing. But it was their direct approach to preventing the eviction of tenants who got behind with their rent, at a time of rising food prices, that made them world famous. I mean, there's signing petitions and writing to your MP, and those are good things to do. But then there's this ...

Rotas were drawn up so that in each tenement close there was always one woman sitting watch, alongside a big bell. As soon as she spotted the approach of a bailiff or factor (a property manager acting on behalf of a landlord), she'd give the clanger a good work-out.

On hearing the alarm sounded, the rest of the women in the area would drop what they were doing and hurry towards the bell. The enemy were forced to retreat not only by the force of numbers, but by a barrage of missiles, primarily flour bombs. It was at this point that the pulling-down of breeks occurred, as there are few things a man fears more than having his trousers pulled down in public.

On at least one occasion, a factor succeeded in tricking money out of a tenant by telling her that everyone else had paid up, so she might as well do so, too. Mary Barbour (1875–1958), one of the main leaders of the rent strike, had a way of dealing with that: she persuaded thousands of workers at the Govan shipyards to down tools and follow her to the factor's office. The money was swiftly returned.

The case of Mrs McHugh of Shettleston, who owed several shillings in arrears, and whose husband and two sons were away in the armed forces, made the national press. When a factor arrived to evict her he was faced with a crowd of hundreds. He fled, but the resistance hadn't quite finished with him - they burned an effigy of him outside his office and then went to his own house and smashed the windows.

There was sympathy for the protestors' cause well beyond working-class and socialist circles. The women were widely seen as respectable, well-behaved people driven to uncharacteristic extremes. Many of the factors' intended victims were munitions workers, so even the conservative press thought that kicking them onto the streets might not be the best way of supporting the war effort.

As far as the landlords were concerned, the direct approach was not working: they were physically unable to impose either rent increases or evictions. So next, they turned to the law, suing householders for back rent at the small debts court. The court was able to order the money to be taken at source - from people's wages - which meant there was no need for factors, bailiffs or sheriff's officers to visit the address in person.

17th November 1915 was when this tactic, initially successful, was smashed to bits by Mrs Barbour's Army.

By now there were at least 20,000 on rent strike, and on that day 18 of them were due in court. In one of the most extraordinary scenes of uprising ever witnessed in Glasgow, Barbour led "many thousands" of tenants, housewives, shipyard workers, engineers and others who converged on the sheriff's court. A cacophony from improvised instruments drew attention to their placards: "Rent strikers. We are not removing."

To the terrified authorities, it appeared that revolution was on hand. In panic, they phoned London and spoke to the coalition government's Minister for Munitions, Lloyd George. That famous pragmatist's advice was straightforward: "Surrender." The accused were all released, along with a promise that the rent problem would be dealt with. This turned out to be one of the rare occasions on which Lloyd George kept a promise, and The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (War Restrictions) Act came into being on the 25th November. It seems politicians can act quickly when they're scared enough.

Witnesses reported the celebrations in the streets as going on throughout the night and throughout Glasgow.

The act made rent profiteering illegal for the duration of the war, backdated to the war's start and to remain in effect for a period afterwards. It was the first law of its kind anywhere in Europe, and laid the basis for significant improvements in tenants' rights for decades afterwards, until Thatcher's deregulations in the 1980s.

Mary Barbour (born Mary Rough), already an activist in the co-operative and socialist movements, who had left school at 14 to work as a thread twister, went on to become one of the greatest figures in Glaswegian local government, as a town councillor, a bailie (something like an alderman), and a Justice of the Peace. She was particularly involved in the welfare of women and children, and her many pioneering achievements are remembered in the city to this day. A statue of her leading the rent strikers was unveiled in Govan in 2018.

So far as history tells us, she never pulled down the lawyers' trousers when she was a JP - but you can bet they all behaved themselves just in case.

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Sources:

When the Clyde ran red by Maggie Craig (Mainstream Publishing, 2011)

Revolt on the Clyde by William Gallacher (1936)

https://remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com/mary-barbour-rent-strike-1915/

https://statuesforequality.com/pages/mary-barbour

John Wheatley by Ian Wood (MUP, 1990)