Three inspirational female figures from Renfrewshire’s history were honoured earlier this week as part of a project to highlight the lesser-heard stories of local women.
Philanthropist Jane Arthur, sword swallower Maud D’Auldin and missionary Jane Haining were portrayed by models at locations in Paisley to mark International Women’s Day, on Tuesday, March 8.
The project – called Monumental – also examines how fashions have changed and considers the relative lack of statues in Renfrewshire of named women.
It is run through the community engagement programme of Renfrewshire Council’s Townscape Heritage/Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland, which helps highlight and restore historic architecture in Paisley town centre.
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Jane Arthur was a prominent philanthropist during Paisley’s 19th-century textile boom. She was born in the town in 1827. Aged 20, she married James, who owned a successful clothing business, and they and their five children eventually moved into Barshaw House.
Jane was a tireless advocate for those less well-off and served on the committees of many local charities.
In later life, she was a prominent campaigner for women’s suffrage and in 1873 became one of the first women in Scotland to be elected to public office, when chosen to serve on the first Paisley school board – winning more votes than all nine of her all-male rivals. In memory of her late husband, she established the Arthur Fellowship to promote the medical education of women.
Maud D’Auldin was a sword swallower and electric light swallower. She was born in Paisley around 1878 and in 1899 married Delno Fritz, who she had met two years before in Glasgow while he was touring the UK with Barnum & Bailey circus.
She became one of only two female sword swallowers of the time, and became widely famous for her act, performing alongside her husband.
She lived and performed in the UK before the family moved to the US in 1907. Maud and Delno had performed before the King and Queen of the UK in 1920, but she died that year after an incident on board a cruise ship from injuries sustained as part of her act.
Jane Haining was one of the few Scots to be killed by the Nazis in a death camp during WW2. Originally from near Dumfries, she was a secretary at JP Coats in Paisley in 1932 when she saw an advert for missionary work with the Scottish Jewish Mission in Budapest, and promptly moved to Hungary to become matron of a girl’s home.
During WW2 she continued working and caring for the girls at the school, and defied orders to return to Scotland. Because of her open sympathy for her Jewish students, she was arrested by the Gestapo.
Among the charges was that she had wept while sewing the yellow stars she was obliged to attach to the clothing of the Jewish girls.
She was originally taken to the local prison but was soon moved to Auschwitz, where she died in 1944, at the age of 47.
As she said: “If these children need me in the days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in the days of darkness?”
The following people helped make the project possible: designer Lilja Husmo and the volunteers and staff at ReMode for costumes (all made using recycled material); KAIROS Women+ and historian Lil Brookes for sharing their historical knowledge; Fraser Scott of Kick the Door for photography; models Louise McWilliams, Rebecca Murphy and Emma Whitelaw; Beth Duffy for hair and makeup and the locations of Sma’ Shot Cottages, Paisley Methodist Church, and Paisley Abbey.
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