In 1929, Minna Galbraith Cowan was the Tory candidate for Paisley, where she was born in 1878. Her father was the high sheriff for Renfrewshire. She was awarded an OBE the previous year for “political and public service in Edinburgh”.
The Aberdeen Journal reported that she was a graduate of “Cambridge, Paris and Edinburgh Universities”. A former suffragist (and later a supporter of the League of Nations), she was elected to the Edinburgh education authority in 1914. Her candidacy was supported by the Edinburgh Women Citizens Association. She became the first convener of the higher education committee (covering secondary schools) in 1923. She stood at Edinburgh East in 1935 for the National Government.
Stephen Brasher
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