MARY LIL Y WALKER OF DUNDEE MARY LIL Y WALKER OF DUNDEE: SOCIAL WORKER AND REFORMER By MYRA BAILLIE, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University (c) Copyright by Myra Baillie, August 1996 MASTER OF ARTS (1996) McMaster University (History) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Mary Lily Walker of Dundee: Social Worker and Refonner AUTHOR: Myra Baillie, B.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor R.A. Rempel NUMBER OF PAGES: vii, 181 11 ABSTRACT Mary Lily Walker (1863-1913) was Dundee's leading activist in matters of social welfare and social reform during the late Victorian and Edwardian period. As the Honourary Superintendent of the Dundee Social Union (DSU), she initiated a number of social welfare services in Dundee for working class women and children. The Grey Lodge Settlement Association, a bustling community centre in present-day Dundee, owes its origins to Lily Walker. Walker was a remarkable Scottish woman, yet until now she has not been the subject of historical study. This thesis progresses in a broad chronological fashion. Chapter one examines the failure of late nineteenth century philanthropy, and documents Walker's early years until 1889. Chapter two looks in detail at the London settlement house movement of the 1890s. Chapters three and four study Walker's role in the new philanthropy, 1900-19l3, examining her contribution to the development of Dundee's social welfare provision. It concludes by critically assessing Walker's achievements. In summary, the purpose of this thesis is threefold. First, it studies the career of Mary Lily Walker, an important woman in her own right. Second, it reveals the problems faced by women in Scotland when they entered the public sphere as social reform activists. Third, it documents her disillusionment with traditional practices of philanthropy and her recognition of the need for the resources and intervention of the state. Walker's experience was in line with many in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and serves as a microcosm of the shift from the philanthropic principles of the nineteenth century to the recognition of the state as an agency for the improvement of the collective good. ill This thesis is largely based on archival sources in Dundee. Walker left no diaries or memoirs, and evidence on the DSU is fragmented, especially after 1902. Walker's role, contribution and social philosophy, therefore, has been derived largely from newspaper reports and the minute books of local government bodies. Fortunately, some of her personal letters are preserved in the D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Papers in the University of St Andrews Library. These letters convey a sense of Walker as a person, and not just as a public figure. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Harty Lyman Hooker Senior Fellowship enabled me to travel to the libraries and archives of Dundee, St Andrews and Edinburgh. I am grateful to the archival staffs of Dundee University Library, Dundee City Archives, and St Andrews University Library for their friendly professionalism and patience. The late Joan Auld deserves special mention for her help and kindness. Discussions with Helen MacDonald and Anne Lee broadened my understanding of Scottish history and social welfare. I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Richard Rempel, for his insight, guidance and unfailing encouragement. My heartfelt thanks to Frank, Jane, Claire and Andrew, who allowed Mary Lily Walker to become part of our family for over a year, and special thanks to Jane for her assistance in printing the final version. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to my mother, Jenny Bonnar, whose help and support gave me the opportunity to research and write this thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Philanthropy in Crisis 7 Chapter 2: "Not Money, But Yourselves" 39 Chapter 3: The New Philanthropy 88 Chapter 4: "Servant of the Town" 128 Conclusion 155 Bibliography 171 VI ABBREVIATIONS COR Charity Organization Review COS Charity Organization Society CCHF Children's Country Holiday Fund DDCM Dundee Distress Committee Minute Book DSBM Dundee School Board Minute Book DPCM Dundee Parish Council Minute Book DSU Dundee Social Union DSUM Dundee Social Union Minute Book DTCM Dundee Town Council Minute Book DWT D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Papers DYB Dundee Year Book EStJ Edinburgh Social Union ICAA Invalid Children's Aid Association NUWW National Union of Women Workers PP Parliamentary Papers SRO Scottish Record Office OCD University College, Dundee WUS Women's University Settlement V11 INTRODUCTION There was never a time when so much earnest thought and effort was being expended as now upon the great questions of education (in the widest sense), national health, industrial organization, and economic well-being; the public conscience was never so aroused or so uneasy; philanthropic enterprise was never so great and varied or charity so large; schemes of reform were never more numerous. l In "The Scottish Victorian City," an examination of the Scottish experience of industrial urbanisation, Geoffrey Best quotes Dr. lB. Russell, Glasgow's Medical Officer of Health, who in 1888, lamented the lack of voluntary citizen initiative in the city and asked: "Why have we not an Octavia Hill in Scotland?"2 This thesis takes Russell's question as the starting point to examine women's role in Scottish philanthropy. During the late nineteenth century, there was an intensification of the philanthropic impulse as an increasing number of charities attempted to alleviate the living conditions of the urban poor. Victorian women were particularly active in philanthropy as it was the most common and acceptable way for them to enter the public sphere. A number of notable English women social reformers achieved national fame as a result of their philanthrbIJic endeavour.3 But what was the role and contribution of Scottish women? Why were there no Scottish women among the names of IPercy Ashley, "University Settlements in Great Britain," Harvard Theological Review (1911): 200. 2Geoffrey Best, "TIle Scottish Victorian City," Victorian Studies (1967-8) 11: 340. Octavia Hill (1838-1912) Under the influence of the Christian Socialists and John Ruskin, Hill became interested in improving the dwellings of the poor. She was nationally renowned for her system of house management, which was closely related to COS methods of character reformation. :If'or example, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), Louisa Twining (1820-1911), and Josephine Butler (1828- 1906). There is a vast literature in the area, of which the best recent study is Jane Lewis, Women and Social Action in Victorian and Edwardian England (Aldershot, 1991). 1 2 outstanding Victorian female philanthropists? This thesis uses a biographical approach to examine the role of women in Scottish social welfare by focussing on the life and work of Mary Lily Walker (1863- 1913) of Dundee. In this manner, the thesis seeks to offer some answers to Russell's question. For twenty-five years, between 1888 - 1913, Walker was at the forefront of the latest developments in social work and social reform, moving far beyond the traditional fund-raising role of philanthropic women. In 1888, as a member of the newly-founded Dundee Soci al Union (DSU), Walker began her social work career as a 'lady rent collector,' practising Octavia Hill's method of philanthropic house management, which held that the route to social reform was through personal contact and close supervision of the poor. During the 1890s, Walker spent time at two women's settlement houses in London, and on her return to Dundee, founded her own settlement house, Grey Lodge, which served as a centre of social work connected to the DSU. Walker was motivated by strong notions of citizenship and often addressed Dundee's middle class from a public platform, exhorting them to be "sensible of their responsibilities and obligations towards their poorer neighbours. 114 Between 1900-1913, she roused the DSU from philanthropic lethargy by arranging conferences, bringing in guest speakers, and introducing new branches of philanthropy. In the Edwardian period, realising that voluntary initiative alone would not improve the condition ofthe poor, Walker extended her sphere of welfare work by serving on local government. In 1905, she co-authored an important sociological survey of Dundee, the DSU Report on Housing and Industrial Conditions and Medical Inspection of School Children, which shocked Dundee's middle class by revealing the appalling living conditions of their fellow-citizens. In 1907, she was one of only seven Scottish women who presented oral evidence to the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws. Walkerfimlly supported government intervention in the social welfare of its citizens, and worked hard 4Dundee Advertiser, 11 Dec. 1896. 3 as a member of Dundee's Distress Committee and Insurance Committee to implement locally the new Liberal social welfare legislation. Walker was a progressive Scottish woman social reformer, but outside of certain circles in Dundee, her name is unknown. At one level, this thesis raises from obscurity a previously unexamined Scot, illuminating her career and assessing her accomplishments. 5 We cannot, however, look at Walker in isolation from the general political, social and economic changes taking place in Britain. At another level, therefore, the thesis uses Walker as a case study to reflect upon a number of national developments in the field of social welfare. Walker's career, which spanned a crucial period in the development of social work and social reform, illustrates the changing views and practices from the late nineteenth century reliance on private philanthropy to the early twentieth century realization that state intervention was necessary. Walker's career reflects upon the national arguments surrounding state involvement in social welfare. Since 1869, the social philosophy ofthe Charity Organization Society (COS) had dominated middle class charitable action. The COS, which stressed the individual's sense of responsibility, believed that personal inadequacies caused destitution and that poverty was a moral failing which could be "cured" by the reformation of character.