In 1915, Glasgow tenants organized one of the most successful rent strikes in British history, forcing the government to cap rent increases during wartime. The movement began when landlords attempted to raise rents by 25% and swelled to include tens of thousands of families refusing to pay. The strike not only protected workers from exploitation but also demonstrated the power of organized resistance during a period of national crisis.
Landlords Exploit Wartime Shortage
Prior to the First World War, housing conditions across Britain’s industrial cities were already dire. Working-class families had few protections against greedy landlords who could raise rents and evict tenants at will. When the war began, the situation worsened considerably as wartime industry drew massive numbers of workers into cities like Glasgow. Shipyards, engineering workshops, and munitions factories required enormous labor forces, and newly arrived workers and their families placed unprecedented strain on housing supplies that were already insufficient.
In February 1915, Glasgow landlords announced a sweeping 25% rent increase affecting families throughout the city. Many households faced impossible choices, particularly those whose primary breadwinners had enlisted and were fighting overseas. The timing struck many as predatory, with private landlords profiting from a national emergency that had already taken so much from working families.
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Tenants Organize Resistance
Tenants across Glasgow responded by forming committees and adopting the slogan “Fight the Hun at Home,” drawing a direct comparison between profiteering landlords and the enemy abroad. In April, residents decided they would pay only their normal rent and refuse the additional charge. Families in shipbuilding districts like Govan and Partick signed formal non-payment petitions, creating a coordinated refusal that made individual targeting more difficult. By June, some landlords abandoned their attempts to collect the increases, recognizing they faced organized opposition rather than isolated complaints.
The city’s Labour movement supported the strikers from the beginning. The Labour Party Housing Committee, formed in 1913, had already been campaigning for the council to build homes for workers using profits from city-owned enterprises like tramways and gas works. The rent crisis accelerated these efforts and drew new participants into housing activism who might otherwise have remained passive.
Women Lead the Movement
Meetings held throughout Glasgow to resist the rent increases gave birth to the Glasgow Housewives Housing Association, with Mary Barbour serving as chair. The organization brought women to the forefront of the fight against unfair landlords and rent hikes. When the strike was formally initiated in September 1915, participation grew rapidly—by November, more than 25,000 working-class families were refusing to pay increased rents.
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With many men away at war or engaged in industrial organizing for better wages and shorter hours, women often provided the backbone of resistance. They developed clever tactics to prevent evictions, using the design of Glasgow tenements to their advantage. When strikers learned of planned evictions in advance, they would pack into the targeted close, blocking entry to officials attempting to remove tenants. To guard against unexpected arrivals, one resident served as a lookout, raising the alarm with shouts, banging pots, or whistle blasts when officials approached.
According to reports in the Forward newspaper and diary entries by campaigner Helen Crawfurd, women sometimes threw flour, rotten fruit, and wet washing at arriving officials, forcing them back out of the building. Tenants threatened with eviction posted “WE ARE NOT MOVING” signs in their windows, and strikers picketed empty houses to prevent them being rented to newcomers willing to pay inflated prices.
For families caught in Glasgow’s overcrowded tenements, the strike represented more than money—it meant staying in their homes during a war that had already taken so much. The willingness of neighbors to stand together against eviction notices and sheriff officers created solidarity that transcended individual hardship, binding entire communities through shared risk and mutual protection.
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Industrial Action Forces Government Response
The movement gained powerful momentum when Dave Kirkwood, convenor of shop stewards at Parkhead Forge, publicly supported the strikers. Kirkwood wrote to the Town Clerk highlighting housing conditions in Glasgow’s eastern districts, arguing that property owners were taking advantage of overcrowding caused by war production. He made clear that workers would view evictions as an attack on the working class itself.
On November 17, 1915, a key confrontation occurred when landlord Mr. Nicholson hauled 18 rent strikers into a small debt court. In response, the Housewives’ Committee organized a mass march that drew thousands of protestors. Industrial workers left their jobs to join the demonstration, swelling the crowd as it approached the court on Brunswick Place. Sheriff officers faced such an overwhelming response that most strikers could simply threaten industrial action, and the cases were eventually withdrawn.
Fears of broader civil unrest and widespread industrial action convinced the UK government to act. On November 25, 1915, Parliament passed the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interests (War Restrictions) Act, freezing rents at pre-war levels for the duration of the conflict. The victory belonged to Glasgow’s tenants, but its impact extended across Britain, establishing a precedent for government intervention in housing markets during national emergencies.
