Jane Hay

Jane Hay (10 March 1864 - 26 January 1914) was a Scottish philanthropist and campaigner. She was elected to the Edinburgh Parish Council in 1895 and campaigned to improve the lives of poor children in the city. She attended university in London.

Philanthropy As a member of the Edinburgh Parish Council, Hay campaigned for nurses for the children in the workhouse She then turned her attention to deserting fathers, convincing the council to hunt them down and send them to prison for not supporting their families.

In 1896, Hay travelled to Athens where she established soup kitchens. Continuing on to Constantinople, she undertook relief work among Armenian refugees helping to support 100 women and children. When small-pox broke out on the island of Euboea, Hay organised food for the sufferers, who were quarantined in a mosque on a neighbouring island. She also cleaned medical instruments and organised supplies of tinned milk for the island's babies. of Kazan.

A keen supporter of the women's movement, Hay joined the National Suffrage Society and the Women's Social and Political Union.

St Abbs She moved to St Abbs where she helped establish the lifeboat station after witnessing the loss of the Danish Steamer She also set up a diving school and the 'Rocket Brigade' for children to learn life-saving techniques. She became friends with local suffragist and campaigner Isabel Cowe.

Hay set up a restaurant for fisher girls who came for the herring curing at Eyemouth and a recreation room at Coldingham. She also one of the founding members of the Scottish American Society. She invited friends to lecture at the Church Literary Society including Antarctic explorer William Spiers Bruce and scientist and town planner Patrick Geddes.

After suffering from a breakdown in health, Hay travelled to Switzerland on the advice of her doctors. She died of an embolism at Monnetier-Mornex in France in 1914.