Join GCHT and Dr Nina Baker to look at what a particular street corner in the original heart of Glasgow tells us about the lives of the women who lived, worked and walked around it. 

Inspired by the redevelopment of a site near the corner of the High Street and Duke Street some years ago, Dr Baker has been investigating the history of this block and the range of buildings and uses it has had over the years, from manufacturing, housing, to commerce and social gatherings. She will discuss how she has used modern recorded data to draw out hints of how life was for ordinary women from the early 19th century onwards, and what two of the site’s most significant buildings – the marriage registry office and Bridewell Women’s Prison – represented to these women and the society in which they lived. 

Dr Nina Baker is an independent historian researching the history of women in engineering. She has had a varied career, starting with being a Merchant Navy Deck Officer before gaining an engineering design degree in her 30s, followed by a PhD in concrete durability from the University of Liverpool. She has lived with her family in Glasgow since 1989, and was a Glasgow City Councillor from 2007-17. She has recently published a biography of the aeronautical engineer, Hilda Lyon: Adventures in Aeronautical design. The life of Hilda M. Lyon.

This event was recorded in front of a virtual audience via Zoom on 12th May 2022.