Jean Mann

Jean Mann JP (née Stewart; 2 July 1889 – 21 March 1964) was a Scottish Labour Party politician and a campaigner for better housing and planning. She was the third female Labour MP in Scotland.

Jean Mann

JP
Jean Mann (1946)
Member of Parliament
for Coatbridge and Airdrie
Coatbridge (1945-50)
In office
5 July 1945 – 8 October 1959
Preceded byJames Barr
Succeeded byJames Dempsey
Personal details
Born
Jean Stewart

2 July 1889[1]
Died21 March 1964(1964-03-21) (aged 74)
Political partyLabour
ChildrenFive

Early life

Mann was educated at Bellahouston Academy in Glasgow and became an accountant. Married with five children, she was a councillor on Glasgow Corporation from 1931 to 1938, where she served as Housing convenor. She became Vice President of the Scottish Branch of the Housing and Town Planning Association, and was a senior magistrate in Glasgow.

In September 1941, the Scottish Branch of the Housing and Town Planning Association organised a conference in Largs to draw attention to the Scottish evidence to the Barlow Commission on the Distribution of the Industrial Population (1940). The conference papers and proceedings were afterwards published in a book titled Replanning Scotland which was edited by Jean Mann.[2]

She unsuccessfully contested the Renfrewshire West constituency at the 1931 general election and again in 1935.

Parliamentary career

In the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election, Mann was elected as Member of Parliament for Coatbridge.

After she had taken the oath, it was realised that her position on the Rent Tribunals under the Rent of Furnished Houses Control (Scotland) Act 1943 was remunerated and that she therefore might hold an 'office of profit under the Crown' which would disqualify her from election. A Select Committee was established [3] which reported that her election was invalid; a Bill[4] was rushed through validating it and indemnifying her from the consequences of acting as an MP while disqualified.[5]

On 19 February 1947, Mann introduced the epithet "twerp" to the House of Commons when referring to Tommy Handley, star of the popular radio comedy programme ITMA, during a debate on supplementary estimates.[6][7] She objected to Molly Weir, who played a Scottish girl (Tattie Mackintosh) on the show, "pursuing" Tommy Handley. Mrs Mann commented that in her day, no Scottish girl would be seen chasing a twerp like Handley. The next day, ITMA responded by opening the show with the overture revamped to "It’s That Twerp Again".

When the Coatbridge constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election, she was returned for the new Coatbridge and Airdrie constituency, holding the seat until she retired at the 1959 general election. Mann was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee from 1953 to 1958.

Her memoir, Woman in Parliament, recalled the difficulties facing women MPs and their efforts to improve legislation for women and families.

Bibliography
  • Mann, Jean (Ed.) (1941), Replanning Scotland, Town and Country Planning Association (Scotland).
  • Mann, Jean (1962). Woman in Parliament. London: Oldhams Press.

References
  1. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-50056
  2. Rosenburg, Lou (2016), Scotland's Homes Fit for Heroes: Garden City Influences on the Development of Working Class Housing 1900 to 1939, The Word Bank, Edinburgh, pp. 234-236
  3. HC Deb 17 August 1945 vol 413 cc272-3
  4. The Coatbridge and Springburn Elections (Validation) Bill
  5. The Coatbridge and Springburn Elections (Validation) Act 1945, (9 & 10 George 6.) 3.
  6. Mann, Jean, MP for Coatbridge (19 February 1947). "Civil Estimates, Supplementary Estimate, 1946–47: Broadcasting". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 433. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 1249. The comedians of the B.B.C. seem content with smutty sex jokes. Today, 70 per cent. of their wireless programmes are based on jokes of this kind. If families are sitting with us we feel we want to switch off. The greatest insult of all to Scotland is the introduction of a Scots girl to "Itma" who is supposed to he falling head over heels for a little "twerp" called "The Governor."
  7. "B.B.C. Comedian Called a "Twerp"". Canberra Times. 21 (6200). 21 February 1947. p. 1 – via Trove. The word "twerp," was heard for the first time in the House of Commons when Mrs. Jean Mann, during the debate on the supplementary estimates, used it in referring to the B.B.C.'s most publicised comedian Tommy Handley, in his programme, entitled "Itma.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Barr		 Member of Parliament for Coatbridge
1945–1950		 Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Coatbridge and Airdrie
1950–1959		 Succeeded by
James Dempsey
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