Mary Lily Walker

Mary Lily Walker (5 July 1863 – 1 July 1913) was a Scottish social reformer, who worked to improve conditions for women and children working in industrial Dundee. The ninth child of a Dundee solicitor, Walker was born into a relatively affluent family in the heavily industrialised city.

She excelled academically from a young age, first being educated at Tayside House, before completing her schooling at the High School of Dundee between 1880 and 1881. During her time there, she won prizes in French, German, Perspective and Practical Geometry.

After finishing her studies at the High School, she attended University College Dundee upon its inception in 1883. Walker continued to study there for 11 years, studying under professors such as D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (with whom she developed a close friendship and corresponded continuously throughout her life), Alfred Ewing, John Steggall and Patrick Geddes. She continued to flourish, winning prizes at the university in Classics, Ancient History, Senior Latin, Literature, Botany, Embryology, Zoology, Physiology, Chemistry, and History. During her time there she also had two papers published on avian anatomy.

Walker's interest in social reform was initiated upon joining the Dundee Social Union (DSU), a group formed in 1888 by a group of the university's professors to improve the quality of life of Dundee's poor. Initially she worked as a rent collector, engaging closely with the families who lived in properties owned by the group. In 1891, she was appointed Superintendent of Housing and Chief Manager of properties. During her time in this role, she started to work more elements of social work into her role, starting clubs for the working women, for example.

In 1893, Walker travelled to London, working directly under the social reformer Octavia Hill at the Women's University Settlement in Southwark. Walker returned to Dundee and focused further on improving the lives of the city's poor through her work with the DSU, despite being offered wardenship of a new settlement by Octavia Hill. Mary Lily adapted what she had learned in London under Hill's tutelage to fit Dundee's particular poverty concerns. By 1905, 40,000 people were employed in the textiles industry in the city; over three-quarters of these were women, and untold numbers children. It was from her work in Southwark that she came into contact with other influential luminaries of the time such as Charles Booth and Seebowm Rowntree. However, as Dundee continued to expand and poverty failed to decrease, it was also the case that numbers in the DSU lessened.

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