21 June 2013
'Forgotten visionary' celebrated in new biography
picture shows author Eddie Small presenting University Rector Brian Cox with his copy of the book.
A new book examining the life and legacy of Mary Lily Walker will be published by Dundee University Press this week ahead
of a four-day celebration of the city's renowned social reformer.
'Mary Lily Walker: Forgotten Visionary of Dundee', written by author and University of Dundee graduate Eddie Small,
tells the story of a remarkable woman from a city renowned for its strong women. Mary Lily Walker not only brought
national attention to the desperate plight of women and children in late-Victorian Dundee, but also introduced social
and healthcare reform to a city she held dear.
Walker was the first to gather evidence on housing and the health of women working in Dundee's jute factories at a time
when one in five babies born in the city died before their first birthday.
Mary Lily Walker set up pioneering restaurants across Dundee at which mothers who agreed to stay off work and breastfeed
their babies could get free meals. She was instrumental in establishing a dispensary, and a women's hospital, in the city.
It is claimed her findings were influential in the establishment of the National Health Service.
She lay down many of the priorities still adopted by the contemporary early-years movement, which recognises the first
three years of a child's life as crucial for its development. The community centre that she established, Grey Lodge
Settlement, still serves families in Dundee, and the city's emergency housing centre is named after her.
Despite this, many of her achievements have been forgotten over time, and the 100th anniversary of her death this year
has led to the launch of a major research and commemorative project dedicated to rethinking Walker's legacy and discussing
ways to use her historical vision to help support low-income families today.
The biography, revealing new, little-known or forgotten information about her life and work, will be launched at during
the Mary Lily Walker conference on 29th June.
"I deliberately concentrated on primary sources for this book to make the characters seem more alive, and in doing
so I became acutely aware of the remarkable person that was Mary Lily,' said Eddie. 'Her energy and achievements, against
so many odds, were amazing yet her natural modesty allowed her to slip from mind. I resolved to do all I could do reverse this.
'This book tells her story for the first time - her early life, her inspirations and the friendships and relationships
which make her a true treasured daughter of Dundee. This is the story of a legacy which still survives 100 years after her
untimely death, and has been too long in the telling.'
The book launch kicks off a weekend-long series of events including a civic reception, walking tours, charity ball,
commemorative service and a family fun day.
An exhibition of images and artefacts telling Mary Lily Walker's story will go on display at the University of Dundee
on 21st June in the foyer of the Tower Building. Saturday, 29th June will see an Early Years Conference take place at the
University. This will bring together some of the UK's most inspiring early years champions, while also shining a light on
some innovative projects on the ground in Dundee, in an attempt to show how Walker's historic insights can assist us in
today's challenges.
Fittingly, the event will be held in the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture theatre, a venue that takes its name from Walker's Professor
during her days at what was then University College Dundee who came to be one of her greatest friends and supporters.
The Mary Lily Walker Centenary programme is being organised by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, an expert in early-years development,
who will be chairing next week's conference.
Dr Zeedyk said that Mary Lily Walker's key legacy is the idea that children are important not just in their own right,
but that their health is important to the health of a society.
'If we are not looking after the needs of children then we are not looking after our own needs,' she said. 'One hundred
years after her death, we are still addressing the same issues she was tackling - infant morality, breastfeeding, poverty,
school meals, housing, employment conditions, maternal health.
'I don't want us to have to have the same campaigns in another hundred year's time. I would like us to take the lessons
that Mary Lily Walker's efforts teach us, and solve these problems now.
'She did not believe they were inevitable and neither do I. What I hope is that, from this renewal of her memory, other
people will begin to believe they need to be inevitable either. For me, Mary Lily Walker's story is not a historic one.
Her vision is very much living and breathing with us today.'
'Mary Lily Walker: Forgotten Visionary of Dundee' by Eddie Small is published by Dundee University Press and
costs £8.99 from www.dundee.ac.uk/dup, Waterstones and all good booksellers.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
