Pen Portraits from the Port
Posted by a Contributor in December's Magazine
Local author Daniel Gray salutes the forgotten heroes of Leith’s past: Clarice Shaw 1883-1946
Hardy, nae nonsense women like Clarice Shaw are as much a part of Leith as muscular tea in the Sea Breeze Café or teeming rain on gala day. For nigh on half a century, Shaw was an instrumental figure in the Scottish labour movement. Brazen and brilliant, she catapulted herself into the starchy world of the male-dominated trade union hall. Thousands of Leithers benefited from her work as a music teacher and a socialist councillor. It’s pleasing to imagine that she combined the two, perhaps by introducing Marx’s theory of alienation into recorder lessons.
Shaw was born a McNab, in now defunct Morton Street – her house stood on the site that is now occupied by Leith Dockers Club. Ironically, in death, Shaw finally lost her long-waged battle for working class temperance.
Electrified by the words of Keir Hardie, Shaw viewed education as the vehicle for bringing about socialism. She became the National Secretary of Socialist Sunday Schools, where eggs and bacon were served with a healthy dose of Engels’ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
In 1903, Shaw began work as a music teacher at an elementary school in Leith and campaigned fervently for improved child health and welfare. Seven years later, she founded the Leith branch of the Women’s Labour League, and in 1913 was elected a Labour member of Leith Town Council. Barely out of her twenties, Shaw had become Scotland’s first female Labour Councillor.
In 1918, Clarice met and fell in love with the Labour politician Ben Shaw, who sadly had nothing at all to do with lemonade. Their marriage that same year saw them find strength in unity, and the new Mrs Shaw became increasingly strident and outspoken in her views. She advocated pacifism in a time of jingoistic war howls and vigorously championed women’s rights. The Shaws became something of a celebrity Labour couple, but it would be harsh to blame them for Tony and Cherie.
Eventually though, Shaw tore herself away from Leith and became a Councillor in Troon. Her rise through the Labour Party continued in spite of a stubborn Leith-built streak; against party consensus she remained steadfast in her pacifism despite the lurking presence of fascism across Europe. Shaw, though, eventually became convinced of the need to wage war against Hitler. In July 1945 she was elected by a thumping majority to become MP for Kilmarnock.
Agonisingly, the onset of serious illness prevented her from taking up the seat, and in the autumn of 1946 Clarice Shaw passed away. This wee weaver’s lassie fae Leith had made giant leaps for womankind.