History
About the trust
The Trust was founded in 1922 and is proud of its long record of service. The Management Committee remains committed to upholding the ideals of the remarkable woman whose name the Trust bears: Mary Macarthur.
Who was Mary Macarthur?
Mary Macarthur was born in Ayr in 1880, the daughter of a draper. She joined the Shop Assistants Union in 1901, and within a year was elected President of its Scottish District Council.
In 1903, she moved to London and became General Secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League. She went on to help establish the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) in 1906, serving as its President for the first two years and later as General Secretary from 1908 to 1921. The NFWW later merged with what is now the GMB union, shortly before Mary’s early and tragic death.
Campaigns and Achievements
One of Mary’s most significant victories came in 1916, when she helped secure an amendment to the Munitions Act requiring women to receive the same rate of pay as men when undertaking men’s work. This led to the establishment of the first national minimum wage rate in the engineering industry.
In 1918, she stood as a parliamentary candidate for Stourbridge but was unsuccessful. Although known publicly as Mary Macarthur, she was required to campaign under her married name, Mary Anderson. She had married Will Anderson in 1911; he later became an MP in 1914. After Will’s death in the 1919 influenza epidemic, Mary was left to raise their four-year-old daughter alone.
During the First World War, Mary worked tirelessly on behalf of both employed and unemployed women. At the invitation of Queen Mary, she became Honorary Secretary of the Central Committee of Women’s Unemployment. Her life’s work was dedicated to helping disadvantaged women help themselves. She died on 1 January 1921 in Golders Green.
The origin of Holiday Homes
During the First World War she worked tirelessly for the employed and unemployed and, at the invitation of Queen Mary, became Honorary Secretary of the Central Committee of Women’s unemployment.
Mary Macarthur often expressed concern for exhausted working women who had no opportunity for rest or holidays. She dreamed of a holiday home where they could recuperate.
After her death, a memorial fund was created to establish the Mary Macarthur Holiday Homes for Working Women. Within months, the first home – The Gables at High Ongar, Essex – opened. Additional homes followed in Stanstead, Littlehampton, and Poulton-le-Fylde, all of which flourished for many decades.
Transition to the Modern Trust
By 1991, the Committee of Management recognised that the Trust’s income was no longer sufficient to maintain holiday centres to modern standards. They made the difficult decision to find a new model of support that still honoured Mary’s original vision.
The remaining home at Poulton-le-Fylde was sold, and the proceeds invested. The charity was renamed the Mary Macarthur Holiday Trust, shifting its focus from running holiday homes to funding holidays directly for working and working-age women in need.
Education
The Charity’s education function has now been formally transferred to the TUC Education Department.
The Trust Today
Since 1991, the Mary Macarthur Holiday Trust has enabled many women to enjoy a holiday of their choice – providing rest, respite, and the chance to restore their wellbeing.
The legacy of Mary Macarthur and the unique role of the original Holiday Homes continue through the Trust’s work today. Her determination “to fight, to struggle, to right the wrong so that those in need might hope for better things” lives on in every holiday the Trust helps to provide.
“to fight, to struggle, to right the wrong so that those in need might hope for better things”
National Federation of Women Workers
The final holiday home closed in 1991 to continue on Mary Macarthurs original intentions the with investments from the proceeds of the sale.