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Jamesina Anderson

Jamesina Anderson (nee McKenna, 19 January 1885 – June 1977) was a Scottish Labour member of Glasgow City Council for the Maryhill ward from 1945 to 1962, serving also as Bailie and Police Judge.

She was born in West College Street (now Crimea Street) in the Broomielaw, Glasgow, three months after her father James McKenna, a carter and cab driver died of Bright’s Disease. She married John Anderson (1883-1962) on 3 January, 1906 in Glasgow. John was listed in the marriage register as an iron milling machineman and Jamesina as a hand loom weaver.

Jamesina was appointed to the 18th (Maryhill) Ward Committee in 1921 and is said to be one of the founding members. She served on the Committee a total of 56 years, being reappointed a number of times; she was for a while Chairman.

In the election of 1945 six female Councillors were elected to the City of Glasgow Corporation, bringing the total number of women on the Council to 13, which was still only 11% of the total. Jamesina Anderson “Housewife” was elected to represent the 21st or Maryhill Ward.

Councillor Anderson served on a variety of committees over her 17 years as a Councillor, including Housing, Health and Welfare, and numerous subcommittees. But her particular interest was the welfare of children and old people, and she was Sub-convenor of the Children’s Committee from 1955 and Convenor from 1958. The Welfare Subcommittee on Boarding Out (of children displaced from Glasgow during and after the war) was also a special interest, and she visited children boarded as far as Skye and Tiree to check on their safety and welfare.

During her time as a Councillor, Jamesina Anderson served as a Bailie for four years, 1947-48 to 1950-51, deputising for the Lord Provost at official events. When she stepped down from that position she became a Police Judge. She finally retired from the Council upon the death of her husband in 1962, but still was active in local affairs, including a walk at the age of 87 to collect one pound for each year of her life, for Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Fund. She died at the age of 91, in June 1977. She was survived by three sons and three daughters, and many grandchildren.