Lila Clunas

An elementary school teacher with a sharp brain and a sharp tongue, Miss Clunas was one of Dundee’s foremost suffragettes. Although born in Glasgow, she spent her life in Dundee where she heckled, joined meetings and deputations, and wrote to the press. She made sure working class women were involved in the fight for the right to vote.

In 1908, she was a member of a 9-woman delegation to No. 10 Downing Street, where she aimed a swipe at the Prime Minister, Asquith, and was jailed for 3 weeks – the first Dundee suffragette to be imprisoned in London.

While in prison she went on hunger strike and was released early as an act of clemency.

After World War II, she was elected to the Council where she served until she was 88.

Miss Clunas taught at Brown Street Public School, now Duke’s Corner public bar where you can see her plaque.