GLASGOW Lord Provost Sadie Docherty will tonight launch an appeal for funds to celebrate a working class heroine.

She is heading a campaign, along with former MP Maria Fyfe, to raise money for a statue to Mary Barbour who was the city's first female Labour councillor

Football legend Sir Alex Ferguson, who was born in Govan, has given his backing with a £5000 donation.

Radical political activist Mary Barbour, who was also born in Govan, successfully led the Rent Strikes in the city at the height of World War 1 forcing a change in the law with the introduction of the Rent Restrictions Act.

Post-war, she maintained her vision and determination to deliver better policies for women and children across the city by blazing a trail to become the first Labour female councillor, Bailie and magistrate.

At the height of the rent strikes, the mobilisation of Barbour's Army saw thousands of women march alongside shipyard and engineering workers to protest at the prosecution of 18 city tenants for non-payment of a rent increase.

The campaign attracted Government intervention, the cases were dismissed and Mary Barbour's place in the history of radical politics assured.

In 1920, she was elected as Labour councillor for the Fairfield ward in Govan with high support from the women she fought for.

Until her retirement in 1931, she worked tirelessly for the working people in her community serving on numerous committees involved with health and welfare services.

She led campaigns for free school milk, children's play parks, municipal wash houses and the city's first family planning clinic.

Glasgow only has three statues commemorating women - Queen Victoria in George Square, city philanthropist Lady Isabella Elder in Govan and La Passionaria on the Clydeside Walkway.

Mrs Docherty said: "Mary Barbour is a remarkable woman whose cause is very close to my heart because she revolutionised housing and vastly improved social conditions for so many people.

"Personally, I realise the value of decent housing. My family moved from the Gorbals to new housing in Castlemilk when I was an infant and it proved life-changing.

"Mary Barbour remains a real inspiration to me. Her values and her determination to make a difference still resonate today.

"It would be such a pity if her contribution to women and children and a fairer society was allowed to fade."

The Remember Mary Barbour committee's campaign to commemorate the working class hero has attracted cross-party support. They have now formed the Remember Mary Barbour Association.

For further information about the campaign go to www.RememberMaryBarbour.com