A CAMPAIGN has been launched for the name of one of Glasgow's most influential women to be given to the city's newest college.

A petition has been launched to name a planned merger of three colleges after Mary Barbour, the city's first female councillor.

Charlie Montgomery, a lecturer and EIS branch convener at Stow College, wants the Scottish Parliament to back his plans for the new building in Cathedral Street, which is the result of the merger between John Wheatley, North Glasgow and Stow colleges.

He said many educational institutions were named after prominent men and it was time to redress the balance.

He said it would be fitting if the college was named after a woman who dedicated her life to improving opportunities for the working class.

She campaigned against steep rent rises during the First World War, paving the way for a law restricting the power of private landlords.

She also pushed for welfare changes, including free milk for schoolchildren, pensions for mothers, municipal banks, wash houses, laundries and public baths and pioneered the city's first family-planning clinic.

Mr Montgomery said: "She did more than many to champion the rights of ordinary Glaswegians, yet her role is often overlooked.

"Naming the college after someone like her would also be paying homage to the many great Glasgow women who have brought up children, ran households, held down jobs, brought communities together and done all the other things that have made our city famous across the world."

Last month Glasgow City Council backed calls to honour Mary with a monument in the city.

caroline.wilson@ eveningtimes.co.uk