Jane Hay
Jane Hay (10 March 1864 - 26 January 1914)[1] was a Scottish philanthropist and campaigner. She was elected to the Edinburgh Parish Council in 1895 and campaigned to improve the lives of poor children in the city.[1]
Early life
[edit]Jane Hay was born in Leith to James Hay (1799 - 1880), a merchant and Margaret Scott, a dressmaker. Her father was well known among the literary, artistic and legal circles of Edinburgh.[2] She attended university in London.[3]
Philanthropy
[edit]As a member of the Edinburgh Parish Council, Hay campaigned for nurses for the children in the workhouse[3] and so deeply moved by the plight of the children, she adopted six orphans.[4] She then turned her attention to deserting fathers, convincing the council to hunt them down and send them to prison for not supporting their families.[3] She served on the council for 7.5 years and also served for 3 years on the Edinburgh School Board.[3]
As a result of her work, Hay gave lectures at the Normal School in Edinburgh on topics such as "Women's work in the world"[5]
In 1896, Hay travelled to Athens where she established soup kitchens. Continuing on to Constantinople, she undertook relief work among Armenian refugees[6] helping to support 100 women and children.[3] A year later, she spent two months distributing blankets and relief to Greek Refugees at Euboea, who had been driven from their villages by Turkish invaders during the Greco-Turkish War.[7] She also supervised the soup kitchens, ensuring that over 1000 people were fed each day.[3] To encourage families, who had lost their livelihoods to become self-sufficient, Hay helped establish cotton looms for the refugee families at Chalcis.[7] When small-pox broke out on the island of Euboea, Hay organised food for the sufferers, who were quarantined in a mosque on a neighbouring island. She also cleaned medical instruments and organised supplies of tinned milk for the island's babies.[6] On her return to Athens she set up a School of Embroidery, whose work was put on sale at Liberty's department store in London.[3]
Continuing with her aid work, Hay visited Russia in 1899, setting up a relief centre for the famine-stricken people [8] of Kazan.[9]
A keen supporter of the women's movement, Hay joined the National Suffrage Society and the Women's Social and Political Union.
St Abbs
[edit]She moved to St Abbs where she helped establish the lifeboat station after witnessing the loss of the Danish Steamer[1] Alfred Erlandsen with all its crew.[10] She also set up a diving school and the 'Rocket Brigade' for children to learn life-saving techniques.[11] She became friends with local suffragist and campaigner Isabel Cowe.[12]
Hay set up a restaurant for fisher girls who came for the herring curing at Eyemouth and a recreation room at Coldingham.[4]
She was involved in the Celtic Revival movement, being a good friend of Ella Carmichael and Margery Kennedy Fraser,[1] and was a member of the Highland Association.[13] She also one of the founding members of the Scottish American Society.[8] She invited friends to lecture at the Church Literary Society including Antarctic explorer William Spiers Bruce and scientist and town planner Patrick Geddes.
After suffering from a breakdown in health, Hay travelled to Switzerland on the advice of her doctors. She died of an embolism at Monnetier-Mornex in France in 1914.[1][8][3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.
- ^ "Death of Mr James Hay, Leith". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 20 January 1880. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "A noted Scotswoman". Berwickshire News and General Advertiser. 3 February 1914. p. n.p. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Here and There". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 16 October 1907. p. 2. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ Caledonia (15 August 1895). "Scottish Echoes". Women's Penny Paper. p. 8. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Miss Jane Hay off to Athens". Edinburgh Evening News. 26 November 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ a b "The Greek Refugee's Committee". The Times. 15 January 1898. p. 14. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ a b c "Obituary". Newcastle Journal. 28 January 1914. p. 5.
- ^ "Untitled". Edinburgh Evening News. 6 June 1899. p. n.p. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ "Request for a Lifeboat at St Abbs". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 15 November 1907. p. 2. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ "Miss Jane Hay of St Abbs". Votes for Women. 13 February 1914. p. 305. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ McCall, Alison (23 June 2024). "Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland, Isabel Cowe". The Women of Scotland. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
- ^ "Highland Mod in Edinburgh". Glasgow Herald. 6 October 1899. p. 10. Retrieved 1 February 2022.