Kathleen (Kay) Muir Stewart
Miss Kathleen Stewart was Secretary of the National Vigilance Association (Eastern Division) and then Guild of Service from 1929 – 1954.
Kay Stewart was born in 1898, the youngest daughter of Rev. Dr. John Stewart and Mrs Stewart. Her father, John Stewart, had been a Church of Scotland Missionary working in the United Free Church Mission in India from 1892 until 1928, when he returned to Scotland and took up a post in Kelso (Anon, 1938).
Kay Stewart was a native of Edinburgh and studied for the Diploma in Social Studies at the University of Edinburgh, which she completed in 1924 (Centre for Research Collections). She took over as the Secretary of the NVA in October 1929, replacing Miss Katherine Stagg. Kay Stewart not only worked for the NVA and Guild as Service (as it became), but she also held Committee roles in similar moral welfare and social service orientated organisations. These included being a member of the Committee for Mental Welfare of the City of Edinburgh Social Service Council, and of the St. Margaret’s Shelter for Girls (Edinburgh Rescue Shelter) (City of Edinburgh Council of Social Service, 1931; Edinburgh Rescue Shelter, 1933). Kay Stewart also attended numerous Committees focused on areas of related work including the Care of the Homeless Committee, the Scottish Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child and the Standing Committe Conference of Women’s Organisations (Guild of Service, 1946).
“From a small office and working almost single-handed, she worked with compassion and understanding in all areas of social welfare work setting the highest standards in spite of a shoestring budget.” (Family Care, 1986, p6)
Under Kay Stewart the work of the NVA began to shift, moving from a focus on vigilance work to moral welfare work, which protected women and girls more broadly, as opposed to focusing on prostitution and the white slave trade. There was also a gradual shift during this time away from the Committee Members managing the work to trained caseworkers (Cree, 1995). However, staffing numbers remained small during this time with Kay Stewart as the Secretary, and three to five Assistant Workers.
During Kay Stewart’s time as Secretary a partnership was formed where practice placements were provided by the Guild of Service (as it became known from 1941 until 1978) to students from the Department of Social Studies at the University of Edinburgh. These students were being trained for roles in social work, and as part of their training required periods where they could work in agencies which provided different forms of social work, such as the Guild, so they could gain practice experience.
Kay Stewart retired from the Guild in 1954. She died on 30th December 1990, at home in Edinburgh.
References:
Anon. (1938) ‘Rev. Dr. John Stewart’, Edinburgh Evening News, 6th July, page 12.
Anon. (1991) ‘Deaths, Funerals -Stewart’, The Scotsman, 3rd January, page12.
Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh, ‘Kathleen Muir Stewart, 1937’, EUA IN1/ACU/S2/8/1/864.
City of Edinburgh Council of Social Service, (1931) Annual Report 1930-31. Edinburgh: City of Edinburgh Council of Social Service.
Cree, Viviene E. (1995) From Public Streets to Private Lives: The changing task of social work. Aldershot: Avebury.
Edinburgh Rescue Shelter (1933) Annual Report – The Edinburgh Rescue Shelter, No. 18 Dean Terrace. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Rescue Shelter.
Family Care, (1986) Family Care: A Concern that goes on Caring 1911-1986. 74th Annual Report. Edinburgh, Family Care.
Guild of Service, (1946) 35th Annual Report – Guild of Service for Women and National Vigilance Association of Scotland (Eastern Division). Edinburgh: Guild of Service.