Celebrating 100 years - Irene Barclay

Irene Barclay became the first qualified woman Chartered Surveyor in 1922, after the Sex Disqualification Removal Act had passed in 1919.

A socialist and social reformer, Irene Barclay was born in 1894 into a free thinking family committed to serving their community.

She and Evelyn Perry opened Barclay & Perry, a surveying practice, in 1924. Irene drew on the principles of the Victorian social reformer Octavia Hill, who believed in the mutual responsibility of residents and non-profit making landlords when it came to housing management.

Irene encouraged residents reluctant to pay rent to improve their financial management.

In 1925, after a short honeymoon with her husband, Irene was called by Edith Neville asking for help with a society she’d started with Father Jellicoe and others in St Pancras. 

She was the first Estate Manager of the St Pancras House Improvement Society, later known as St Pancras Housing Association, staying in her role from 1925 to 1972.

The local residents dubbed her team ‘The Landladies’ and were willing to let the surveyors into their homes, as they understood they were trying to improve the housing conditions.

Irene Barclay ‘‘There will always be problems because we are dealing with people, not things, and the art of housing management is in tackling problems, and solving some of them’’ Irene Barclay, People need Roots, published 1976

On 22 May English Heritage will be unveiling a Bluer Plaque dedicated to Irene Barclay at St Martin's House, an early birthday tribute for Irene who's birthday is 27 May.