{{short description|British political activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Jane Rae | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1872|12|20|df=yes}} | birth_place = Denny, Falkirk, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|05|12|1872|12|20|df=yes}} | death_place = Clydebank, Scotland | death_cause = | resting_place = | other_names = | occupation = councillor | employer = Clydebank Council | known_for = political activism, women's suffrage, temperance movement, anti-war | successor = | spouse = Alfred Coates | children = | honours = }} alt=Jane Rae Gardens, Clydebank|thumb|Jane Rae Gardens, Clydebank '''Jane Rae''' (20 December 1872 – 12 May 1959) was a Scottish political activist, suffragist, councillor and justice of the peace.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Rae, Jane|work=The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780748632930|editor-last=Ewan|editor-first=Elizabeth|location=Edinburgh|pages=295–296|editor-last2=Innes|editor-first2=Sue|editor-last3=Reynolds|editor-first3=Siân|editor-last4=Pipes|editor-first4=Rose}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Reporter comment|last=Behan|first=Paul|date=16 March 2017|work=Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter|department=Opinion}}</ref> She was one of the activists involved in the 1911 all-out strike at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in Clydebank.<ref name=":0" /> She was also active in the women's suffrage movement and in the Clydeside Rent Strike.<ref name=":4" /> She became Branch Secretary of the Clydebank branch of the Independent Labour Party,<ref name=":1" /> and served as a Labour councillor for Clydebank Town Council from 1922 to 1928.<ref name=":3" /> She is commemorated with a plaque in the gardens of Clydebank Town Hall.<ref name=":5" />
==Early life== Rae was born in Denny, Falkirk on 20 December 1872 to Elizabeth Cossens and Livingston Rae, an ironmonger. She later moved to Clydebank with her family.<ref name=":0" />
== Activism == Rae worked at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in Clydebank in the '''Needle Flat''<nowiki/>' department where needles were made, sorted and checked.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://urbanglasgow.co.uk/singer-factory-clydebank-t3175.html|title=Singer Factory Clydebank|last=weechookieburdie|website=Urban Glasgow|language=en-gb|access-date=2017-11-18}}</ref> Resentful of the working practices imposed at the factory (including wage undercutting, increased workloads, job timing and work reorganisation), she became one of the activists in the all-out strike at the factory that ran from March to April in 1911. For her involvement in the strike, she and more than 400 of her fellow colleagues lost their jobs.<ref name=":0" />
Rae was described as being strikingly tall, determined, strong-willed and studious, with political conviction in progressing society and improving conditions for workers.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://womenofscotland.org.uk/women/jane-rae|title=Jane Rae|last=Smith|first=Morag|website=Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland|language=en|access-date=2017-11-18|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201030633/http://womenofscotland.org.uk/women/jane-rae|url-status=dead}}</ref> After hearing the Scottish socialist Keir Hardie speak she joined the Clydebank branch of the Independent Labour Party, going on to become its Branch Secretary in 1913.<ref name=":1" />
She was active in women's suffrage, and once chaired a talk given by Emmeline Pankhurst at Clydebank Town Hall. She was also involved in the temperance, anti-war and cooperative movements, and in the Clydeside Rent Strike.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|title=Lasting Clydebank memorial to inspirational woman|date=13 September 2013|work=Clydebank Post}}</ref> In 1922 she was elected as a Labour Party councillor for Clydebank Town Council, holding her seat until 1928.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|title=Glasgow: twenty-four labour candidates|date=1 November 1922|work=The Scotsman|page=12}}</ref>
By virtue of having won the most votes in the 1922 election Jane was elected to head of the Dunbartonshire Education Authority . Combative from the start, at her first meeting as Chair, she quoted a paragraph from The Glasgow Herald while at the same time describing it as “mouthpiece of the oppressor”.<ref>"''Dumbartonshire Education Committee-The New Chairman"'' Kirkintilloch Herald - 26 April 1922</ref>
Six years later at a farewell event, prior to her departure for Australia, a fellow committee member and political opponent confessed to being intimidated at the thought of working with her but her fears evaporated after their first meeting when she realised that “''our political views were different but the education of our children, stands on a higher plane than that of politics. I believe we have mutual respect for each other.''”<ref>''Dumbartonshire Education Authority-Presentation to Miss Jane Rae-Mrs Kyle's Tribute'' -Milngavie and Bearsden Herald - 05 October 1928</ref>
She was also a Justice of the Peace, and in carrying out her duties was known for handing out the toughest sentences possible to men that had subjected women to domestic violence.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/leisure-parks-events/museums-and-galleries/collections/people-and-personalities/people-and-personalities-clydebank/individuals-clydebank/jane-rae/|title=Jane Rae|website=West Dunbartonshire Council|language=en|access-date=2017-11-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te3ltQFNHAsC&q=%22jane+rae%22+-gardens+singer&pg=PT21|title=When the Clyde Ran Red|last=Craig|first=Maggie|publisher=Random House|year=2011|isbn=9781780571645}}</ref>
== Later life and death == In 1929, after the death of her mother, Rae married her longtime Australian friend Alfred Coates, and emigrated with him to Australia. In 1938 Rae and her husband returned to the UK, settling in the Channel Islands.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> When the islands came under German occupation during World War II, she witnessed the brutality of the Nazis towards Soviet prisoners of war and as a precaution destroyed all of her socialist literature, information and records.
In 1946, after her husband died, Rae returned to Clydebank where she remained until her death in 1959.<ref name=":1" />
== Tributes == A plaque erected by West Dunbartonshire Council in honour of Rae is in the gardens of the Town Hall on Dumbarton Road. On unveiling the plaque Provost Douglas McAllister said "''This memorial plaque is in recognition of the many activities, locally and nationally that Jane was involved in. Her determination to help and support others, regardless of the personal consequences to herself was quite remarkable. She cared passionately about her community and was also involved in the Clydebank Rent Strike during the 1920s''."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/plaque-jane-rae|title=Plaque to Jane Rae|website=Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland|language=en|access-date=2017-11-18|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041839/http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/plaque-jane-rae|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Activist and councillor remembered|date=14 September 2013|work=Evening Times (Glasgow, Scotland)}}</ref>
Jane Rae Gardens on the Whitecrook housing estate is named in commemoration of her.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/jane-rae-gardens|title=Jane Rae Gardens|last=Smith|first=Morag|website=Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland|language=en|access-date=2017-11-18|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031327/http://womenofscotland.org.uk/memorials/jane-rae-gardens|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/735419|title=Jane Rae Gardens, Clydebank|last=Sweeney|first=Steven|website=Geograph|access-date=2017-11-18}}</ref>
In 2012 the BBC produced a short film about the strike at the Singer Sewing Machine factory, and an actor portraying Jane Rae narrated the story.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00n3qqv|title=1911: Industrial Unrest in Glasgow, 1911 Review of the Year - BBC Two|website=BBC|access-date=2017-11-18}}</ref>
==References== <references />
{{Women's suffrage in Scotland}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Jane}} Category:1872 births Category:1959 deaths Category:People from Renfrewshire Category:Scottish Labour councillors Category:Women councillors in Scotland Category:Scottish activists Category:Red Clydeside Category:Scottish suffragists Category:Scottish temperance activists Category:Councillors in West Dunbartonshire