CAMPAIGNERS launched an appeal yesterday seeking funds for a statue of Glasgow hero Mary Barbour marking the centenary of the 1915 rent strike she and other working-class women organised.

Glasgow Lord Provost Sadie Docherty launched the Remember Mary Barbour Committee, saying the the Red Clydesider had “revolutionised housing and vastly improved social conditions for so many people.”

Barbour became one of the city’s first women councillors in 1920 — standing for the Independent Labour Party. She fought throughout her life for women’s rights and led campaigns for free school milk, municipal wash houses and the first family planning clinic in Glasgow.

Mary Barbour’s Army — the name given to the thousands of working-class women who rallied to the cause — has been mobilised once more by current women activists to campaign around issues like the bedroom tax and the group has developed a play based on her life and campaigns.

The funding appeal and statue bid has the council’s support.