On the Street where I lived......

It was a while ago now and, to be honest, I have little recollection of my five years in Ayr. I was born in the house in Sloan Street, Whitletts, Ayr and until recently I've had no idea who the street was named after.  

Sloan Street, Ayr

However it would appear that the street commemorates Alexander Sloan MP, a coal miner and trade unionist, who represented the constituency of South Ayrshire from 1939 until his death in 1945.  Sloan was from Rankinston, a miners' village 12 miles south east of Ayr. A conscientious objector in World War One, Sloan was to become one of the most radical of Labour MPs, often supporting the communist MP, William Gallagher, and taking a particular interest in India.  Sloan was a strong socialist and anti-fascist and referred to the distribution of income in Britain as being worse than in France at the time of the French Revolution.

Sloan wasn't the first Ayrshire Miner to represent the constituency, as he had been elected following the death of James Brown MP, who had worked in the pits from the age of 12 until he was 43.   Brown had been the South Ayrshire MP in 1918–1931 and from 1935 until his death in 1939.  

Both Sloan and Brown had served as the Secretary of the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers at the same time as representing their constituency.  James Brown Avenue, in Ayr, takes its name from Brown, who had been born in Whitletts in 1862.

Sloan himself was succeeded by Emrys Hughes (10 July 1894 – 18 October 1969) a Welsh Labour politician, best known for being the biographer and son-in-law of Keir Hardie, the  first Independent Labour Member of Parliament.

Keir Hardie

 A teacher by profession. in the First World War Hughes was imprisoned as a conscientious objector.  In 1924, he married Nan Hardie, the daughter of Keir Hardie.  On 7 February 1946 Hughes was elected as the constituency's MP and re-elected in the general elections of 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, and 1966. A left-winger, he was frequently at odds with the leadership of the Labour Party and twice had the whip withdrawn, between November 1954 and April 1955 (over German rearmament), and between March 1961 and May 1963 (over nuclear weapons).  Following his death in 1969 he was succeeded by Jim Sillars in 1970 and finally by George Foulkes in 1979, the seat having been abolshed during reorganisation in 1983.

Katy Sloan Clark

Alexander Sloans'  great great grand daughter Kathryn Sloan Clark not only continues to preserve the family name but also the Sloan interest in trade unionism and politics.   Born in Kilwinning and brought up in Ayrshire, Katy has been the MP for North Ayrshire and Arran since 2005 and has campaigned on a wide range of issues since entering Parliament, particularly on issues relating to employment rights, closing the pay gap between men and women and against the privatisation of the public sector. Her political interests include disarmament, women’s rights, environmental and poverty issues.  



I think her great great grand father would have been proud of her, I'm proud to have his name on my Birth Certificate and I'm sure Katy is too.