Agnes Hardie


Agnes Agnew Hardie was a British Labour politician.

Early life

Her association with the Labour movement began when she was a shop girl in Glasgow. She was a pioneer member of the Shop Assistants' Union, acting for some years as organizer. During the First World War she was a woman's organizer of the Labour Party and was a member of the then Glasgow Education Authority. She married George Hardie, who was a Member of Parliament and brother of Keir Hardie. After an early career in the National Union of Shop Assistants, she was the Women's Organizer for the Labour Party in Scotland from 1918–23.

Career

At the Glasgow Springburn by-election in 1937 caused by the death of her husband, she was elected as Member of Parliament for Glasgow Springburn, and held the seat until her retirement at the 1945 general election. On her election she was Glasgow's first female MP, the fifth female MP ever to be elected in Scotland and the second Scottish Labour MP, after Jennie Lee.