Thread by @suzannezeedyk

A THREAD on #Dundee Victorian campaigner agnst poverty, Mary Lily Walker. Her core motivation was t health of women&children. She was BORN 157 yrs ago today, 5 July 1863. I hv loved being part of efforts in t last decade to renew t public's memory of her. Here are some memories.

2. Here's the publication of Mary Lily Walker's biography, with author Eddie Small of @dundeeuni gifting a copy to Dundee's acclaimed son Brian Cox. This was 2013, when the book was just published. I remember when we dreamed up the idea of the book @annaday !

3. Here's a pic of t 2013 conference we held to mark t Centenary of Mary Lily Walker's death. Yep, that's @JohnCarnochan speaking! John has built a reputation in calling for greater investmnt in women & children's health. As a police officer, he called for more health visitors.

4. Here we are on that Centenary weekend in 2013. A group of us honoured her w/ a pilgrimage walk up to her gravesite in Balgay Cemetery. We started at the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, from which she was buried on what would have been her 50th birthday: 5 July 1913.

5. Here’s an excerpt from her obituary, published 2 July1913 in t Dundee Courier & Advertiser. “One of Dundee’s noblest daughters”. Quoted in her biography by Eddie Small: “Today t East End, no less t West End, mourns.” The street beyond the Cathedral was mobbed for her funeral.

6. Here is the Fancy Dress Dinner we held in 2013, with lots of us dressed up as characters of the time, aiming to raise awareness of her work. At the centre of the photo is t remarkable report she led in 1905 abt t health of childrn living in poverty in Dundee's abysmal housing.

7. Here's a discussion with author Eddie Small about biography of Mary Lily Walker's life at the Dundee Literary Festival, based at @dundeeuni . I have such admiration & gratitude to this man in particular! Her brought her character, not just her deeds, back to life.

8. And here's a great shot! Here we are on a Mary Lily Walker Walking Tour, taking a group of the public round Dundee sites relevant to her life. Here we are on a cold day at the family gravesite of her older half-brothers & sisters, in the Howff Cemetery.

9. Here's the Mary Lily Walker Exhibition, which hung in the foyer of the Tower Building of @dundeeuni in Summer 2013. It was designed by @connectedbaby's Graphic Designer Brett Housego. Later, it moved to the Central Library so more folk could see it.

10. When the public voted to include Mary Lily Walker amongst the very first historic Dundee dignitaries to feature in the new Discovery Walk, unveiled in 2016, I cried. It was so so deserving. Yet only 3 years before, so few people knew her name.

11. Since COVID, we've dug our copies of her biography out of the store room. There are now copies of Eddie Small's brilliant book available to purchase from the @connectedbaby website. "This is the story that has been too long in the telling." connectedbaby.net/resources/mary…

12/end. I'm going to end my thread w/ this pic. This talented young man beckoned us pilgrims to Mary Lily's gravesite in 2013. I will never forget t sound of his pipes. 107 years ago right now (3pm 5July1913), the crowds of mourners would still have been lingering on that hill.

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