Mary Lily Walker

Mary Lily Walker worked tirelessly to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Dundee at a time when conditions for the poor were frequently appalling. Not only did she observe and record the realities of industrial urban living, but she organised and collaborated with others to introduce a wide range of invaluable initiatives.

Mary Lily Walker was born in 1863. Following the death of her father, a respected Dundee solicitor, Walker cared for her mother until her death in 1883. That year, she joined University College Dundee as one of its first female students. There, she became one of the first members of the new Dundee Social Union (DSU), founded by a group of the college’s professors.

In 1893, Walker travelled to London to work under and learn from the social reformer Octavia Hill at the Women's University Settlement. She was offered a permanent position by Hill but decided to return to Dundee. For the DSU, she wrote meticulous official reports on health, housing and industrial conditions.

Alongside Emily Thomson, she co-founded the Women’s Hospital and worked to improve the health of the city through baby clinics, a restaurant for working mothers, school dinners, children’s convalescent holidays, and clubs for groups of all ages.

In 1901, Walker was elected as a parish councillor, and in 1905 was appointed to the Distress Committee to help with poor relief. One of Walker’s many lasting legacies is Grey Lodge Settlement, a youth and community-based charity organisation which continues to carry out important work in the Hilltown area of Dundee.