THE people of Glasgow will be asked to help choose a statue to honour one of Scotland's most important social reformers.

 

Bids will be sought from Scottish artists to design a memorial for Mary Barbour, who led the 1915 Glasgow rent strikes during World War One.

It is understood Professor Sam Ainslie, former head of the MFA programme at Glasgow School of Arts is part of the team that is taking the design plan forward.

The bids will be shortlisted to six artists, who will be invited to create a maquette, showing the finished design.

The designs will be showcased around the city in museums and libraries, and particular in Govan, where Glasgow's first female councillor lived.

The Evening Times first revealed plans to create a permanent memorial to Mary, who forced a change in the law to curtail profiteering landlords.

It was launched by former Labour MP Maria Fyfe following a motion by Councillor Pauline McKeever in May 2013 urging the city council to support the Remember Mary Barbour committee's campaign.

Last week, Govan-born football legend Sir Alex Ferguson pledged £5,000 towards the Remember Mary Barbour Fund.

The Glasgow rent strikes took place at the height of World War One, with 20,000 people taking to the streets in protest against profiteering landlords.

The mobilisation of Barbour's Army saw thousands of women march alongside shipyard and engineering workers to protest at the prosecution in Glasgow's small debt court of 18 tenants for non-payment of a rent increase.

The campaign attracted ministerial intervention, the cases were dismissed and the Rent Restriction Act was enacted, heralding a change in Glasgow's housing system.

In 1920 Mary, who was born in Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, was elected as the city's Labour town councillor for the Fairfield ward in Govan with huge support from the women she fought for.

Until her retirement in 1931 she worked relentlessly for the working class of her constituency, serving on numerous committees concerned with health and welfare services,

Even after she withdrew from politics, Ms Barbour remained active in the Co-operative Committees, and in her later years organised trips to the seaside for children of the poor.

She died in 1958 at the age of 83.