Mary Macarthur

Scottish outstanding Labour Union official, Secretary of Woman's Trade Union League and founder of the National Federation of Women Workers. The daughter of a prosperous draper, her education included a year in Germany, 1896, before joining her father as a clerk. She joined the Shop Assistant's Union in 1901 and rose rapidly to become President of the Scottish National District. As a union representative, in London, 1903, she became the Secretary of the Women's Trade Union League with the help of her friends Margaret Bandfield and Gertrude Tuckwell. MacArthur revitalized membership and increased trade boards, organized strikes when necessary to negotiate minimum wages and protected the rights of women. In 1904 she became a delegate to the International Congress of Women in Berlin and 1907 launched a popular journal called, "Woman Worker." She served on the National Council of the Independent Labour Party 1909-12 and during WW I, through propitious circumstances, she unexpectedly became friends with Queen Mary. Known as being vitally energetic and exuberant, her consistently held social purpose gave her great joy of life. MacArthur married politician W.C. Anderson and was widowed in 1919. She died of cancer in 1921 at the young age of 41. Link to Wikipedia biography