Episode Transcript

At the start of the twentieth century, Dundee was a city suffering from severe social deprivation. Infant mortality was high; shockingly, four out of five children died before they reached their third birthday. Overcrowding was rife, with reports of up to eight family members sharing a room, and that, combined with poor sanitation, led to low standards of health and an increased spread of disease.

In 1888, the Dundee Social Union – closely connected to University College – had been formed. Its mission was “to improve the condition of the dwellings of the poor; to provide opportunities and cultivate a taste for healthy enjoyments and to promote the well-being of the inhabitants of the town...not limited by class, religion or condition”.

Enter Mary Lily Walker, described by University of Dundee lecturer Eddie Small as an ‘unsung hero’. Shy, wealthy (her father was a solicitor), female and academic, she became an unlikely reformer. Walker was one of the University’s first graduates, studying under professors such as Patrick Geddes and Sir Darcy Wentworth Thomson.

Upon graduation, Walker joined what was, at that point, a Social Union in decline.  She became Superintendent of Housing, and Chief Manager of Properties. Her influential report of 1904, focusing on the health of the city’s children, exposed the terrible conditions in parts of the city, even making MPs in the House of Commons sit up and take notice.

Both Eddie Small and honorary lecturer Suzanne Zeedyk describe Walker as one of Scotland’s ‘earliest early years champions’. Walker believed that Dundee’s high rate of infant mortality was in part due to the fact that women were forced to return to work in the jute mills only a month after giving birth.

One of her great achievements was therefore to institute restaurants for nursing mothers in the city. These women would be able to receive very low- or no-cost meals, on the condition that they brought their babies in for regular weigh-ins, and did not return to work.  In time, these restaurants expanded into full baby clinics and Dundee became the first city in Scotland with an organised municipal infant welfare service.

At the same time, Walker’s home, Grey Lodge, became a centre to train professional social workers. After her death in 1913, she left it in the hands of trustees to be used as a settlement house. In 1920, Grey Lodge, the DSU and University College joined forces to form the Dundee School of Social Study and Training, beginning a longstanding commitment to educating social workers in the city.

Today, Grey Lodge Settlement is a youth and community organisation. It runs a huge variety of events, providing a seven day a week programme to promote leisure, learning and community involvement for all ages.