Clarice Shaw Explained

Clarice Shaw
Constituency Mp:Kilmarnock
Term Start:5 July 1945
Term End:27 October 1946
Primeminister:Clement Attlee
Predecessor:Kenneth Lindsay
Successor:William Ross
Birth Name:Clarice Marion McNab
Birth Date:22 October 1883
Birth Place:Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland
Death Place:Troon, Scotland
Party:Labour

Clarice Marion Shaw (née McNab; 22 October 1883 – 27 October 1946) was a Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

Early life

Shaw grew up in a multi-generational household in Leith.[1] She left school at fourteen and for nine years worked as a typist before becoming a Labour councillor on Leith School Board and later to its Town Council.[2]

in 1918 she married Ben Shaw, the Scottish organiser for the Labour Party and moved to Ayrshire.

Political career

In 1916 she was the only woman Labour councillor in Scotland and at that time she expressed the view that if there were more women councillors then issues like child welfare and infant mortality would receive more attention.

She stood as a parliamentary candidate for Rutherglen in the 1919 General Election-alongside other women, Helen Crawfurd and Agnes Dollan.[3]

She opposed to conscription in WW1 and was national secretary of the Socialist Sunday Schools Association. Following her move to Ayrshire she was elected (top of the poll) to the Ayrshire Education Authority in the late 1920s.[4]

Shaw was elected and sworn in as MP for Ayrshire & Bute, Kilmarnock at the 1945 general election. Almost immediately she fell seriously ill and was unable to make her maiden speech. She continued with constituency duties but died shortly after she resigned on 2 October 1946.

Death

She died on 27 October 1946 at 36 Titchfield Road, Troon, and was buried at Troon. At the by-election which followed a young recently demobbed Major Willie Ross was elected MP in her place.[5]

Further reading

. F. W. S. Craig--> . British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 . 1969--> . 3rd . 1983 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-06-X.

Notes and References

  1. 1911 census Roll CSSCT1891_364
  2. Women who aspire to sit in Parliament-Illustrated London News - 11 May 1929
  3. Adopted Labour Candidates-Forward (Glasgow)  29 March 1919
  4. Socialist Sunday Schools-Clarion 26 April 1912
  5. Web site: ukvote100 . 2021-02-15 . Freda Corbet and Clarice Shaw . 2024-07-16 . UK Vote 100: Looking forward to the centenary of Equal Franchise in 2028 in the UK Parliament . en.