Irene Barclay

Irene Barclay (née Martin, 27 May 1894 – 21 March 1989) was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a chartered surveyor, and was a noted campaigner for social housing.

Early life and education Irene Turberville Martin was born on 27 May 1894 in Hereford, the eldest of four children of Alice (née Turberville) and Basil Martin. Her father was a socialist and pacifist Congregationalist minister. Her younger brother was Kingsley Martin, long-time editor of the New Statesman.

She gained a 1st class degree in History in 1916, followed by a Diploma in Social Science, both at Bedford College, London.

Following the passage of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act 1919 she was able to sit her final exams with the College of Estate Management Her pioneering social and housing surveys in the 1920s drew the attention of the middle classes to the plight of slum dwellers including Somers Town, Pimlico, North Kensington and Edinburgh as described in her memoirs, combining physical survey of the properties such as disrepair and lack of amenities with human aspects such as tenure, rents and overcrowding. Barclay, who has been described as ‘Irene, the patron of the poor’, was appointed an OBE in 1966 for her significant and valuable work as a social reformer.

Barclay subsequently played a leading role in the foundation of a number of housing associations in the 1920s and 1930s, including Kensington Housing Trust, Stepney Housing Trust, Isle of Dogs Housing Society and Bethnal Green Housing Society. Most of these were established on the basis of her surveys of property and housing conditions. Her plaque was unveiled at 1A St Martin's House, Polygon Road, Somers Town, Camden, NW1 1QB in May 2024, marking the site of her office in the 1960s and 1970s when she was Estates Manager and Honorary Secretary of the St Pancras House Improvement Society Limited.