Mary Burns Laird was born in 1864 to Margaret Walker and Hugh Burns, who were both born in Ireland. In 1884, she married John Laird, who was a ship builder's clerk. The wedding took place in Kinning Park. Laird was a sewing machinist. Her father, Hugh was a Deputy Harbourmaster at the time of her marriage. Laird and her husband, John had three children, Annie, Mary and Robert and the family stayed on Blantyre Road, Anderston. Laird was a prominent Labour activist and patron of the Women's Labour League. In 1913, as a member of the Women's Labour League, she gave a prepared statement and then was a witness to the Royal Commission on the Housing of the industrial population of Scotland Rural and Urban.. This Commission originated in 1909, when the Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Pentland, directed the Local Government Board for Scotland to seek reports from county medical officers into the living conditions of miners; this being the result of a meeting with a deputaion from the Scottish Miners Federation earlier that year. This eventually led to the Commission being established in 1912 by Lord Pentland's successor, the Right Honourable T McKinnon Wood.
Women's Housing campaign and rent strikes
In 1914, at the age of 50, Laird became one of the founders and first President of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association. The Glasgow Women's Housing Association was formed on the eve of the First World War in 1914 with support from the Women's Labour League and the Housing Committee of the Glasgow Labour Party, although the organisation was non-political in its membership and commitments. The organisation became a driving force in supporting the 1915 rent strike, and its formation has been described as the major 'pre-war organizational effort' in support of the strikes. In 1915 the Glasgow Women's Housing Association organised a number of meetings in Morris Hall on Shaw Street in Govan to protest rent increases across Glasgow. The first of these meetings, on 16 February, was chaired by Laird and addressed by John S. Taylor, Patrick Dollan and Harry Hopkins. Laird also played a prominent part in another meeting which took place in St Mungo's Halls. In her role as Chair of the Glasgow Women's Housing Association, Laird criticised tenement housing, stating that these were a challenge for housewives, advocating instead the establishment of "cottage homes".
Social activism
After her involvement in the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strikes, Laird became increasingly involved with the Labour Party and wider social activism. In 1915, the radical publication Forward urged that Laird be adopted as a municipal candidate for the Labour Party as a way of linking housing policy with a direct appeal to women voters. In November 1916, as president of the Partick Branch of the Women's Labour League she presided over a meeting protesting the high prices of food, the cause of which she stated was "profiteering organisations". On May Day 1917, Laird spoke alongside Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan and Mrs. Ferguson at a rally at Glasgow Green attended by 70,000 people. In April 1919, Laird was elected for Labour in School Board elections. As member for Hillhead and Partick, she served on a number of committees responsible for children's welfare. Laird was appointed to the Women's Committee on House Planning in Scotland in 1918. The Committee had been established by the Secretary for Scotland, Robert Munro. with the purpose of inspecting houses and making recommendations from the housewife;s point of view... Its Chair was Helen Kerr. In 1922 Mary became Treasurer of the Scottish Labour Housing Association. She stood for election to the town council for Partick East in 1924, losing to the moderate candidate, Donald Fletcher then in 1926 she became a member of the Glasgow Trades Council.
