Home

Welcome to the website for the Remember Mary Barbour campaign.

To help us achieve our goal of a statue please visit our donation page https://remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com/how-to-donate/

The name of the successful sculptor chosen to create the statue of Mary Barbour is Andrew Brown. 

The successful sculptor was announced from the stage of the hugely successful Gala Concert in Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket on 21 February 2016.

Maria Fyfe, Chair of the Remember Mary Barbour Association (RMBA) said in announcing the winner

“When the public in Glasgow saw the designs, there was support for all five of them. But the widest support was expressed for the one we announce tonight, and the Remember Mary Barbour Association endorse their choice.

“This sculptor’s intention was to present Mary Barbour, for now and for generations to come, in a way that captures the achievement for which she is best known. The day in November 1915, when she led a 20-thousand-strong protest through the streets of Glasgow to the Sheriff Court and won the victory.

“Congratulations to Andrew Brown!”

The successful design along with the four others shortlisted can be seen on the Facebook page here.

All five short-listed maquettes are currently on display at the Fairfield Heritage Centre. To have a look at the Maquettes please check out this link https://remembermarybarbour.wordpress.com/the-shortlist/

Among these pages you can find out about Mary Barbour and how she worked tirelessly to change this country’s laws to help families in poverty.

Her capacity to mobilise working class families, especially women, to challenge the power of landlords and the state during the 1915 rent strike led to the passing of one of Europe’s first rent restriction acts.

Elected as Labour councillor for the Fairfield ward in Govan in 1920 she continued to campaign, not only for better homes, but a higher standard of living generally, and fought for free school milk, children’s playgrounds, municipal wash-houses, and an end to slum housing. Mary Barbour also instigated the first birth control clinic in Glasgow.

When she died in 1958 her obituary in the Govan Press said that “there was never a more revered and loved local leader than she was in the heyday of her active life”.

Today she is remembered and inspires in Govan and beyond.

You can also join the campaign and donate to the fundraising appeal for a fitting statue to be erected in memorial to “Granny Barbour”.

For more information on Mary Barbour, the memorial campaign or to find out how you can donate, please email info@remembermarybarbour.com