Jane Rae
Jane Rae (20 December 1872 – 12 May 1959) was a British political activist, suffragist, councillor and justice of the peace. She was one of the activists involved in the 1911 all-out strike at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in Clydebank. She was also active in the women's suffrage movement and in the Clydeside Rent Strike. She became Branch Secretary of the Clydebank branch of the Independent Labour Party, and served as a Labour councillor for Clydebank Town Council from 1922 to 1928. She is commemorated with a plaque in the gardens of Clydebank Town Hall. Early life Rae was born in Denny, Falkirk on 20 December 1872 to Elizabeth Cossens and Livingston Rae, an ironmonger. She later moved to Clydebank with her family. Activism Rae worked at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in Clydebank in the 'Needle Flat' department where needles were made, sorted and checked. Resentful of the working practices imposed at the factory (including wage undercutting, increased workloads, job timing and work reorganisation), she became one of the activists in the all-out strike at the factory that ran from March to April in 1911. For her involvement in the strike, she and more