Scottish Women's Institutes

The Scottish Women's Institutes (SWI), informally called "the Rural",[1] is a registered charity which promotes the preservation of Scotland's traditions and rural heritage, particularly in the sphere of household activities. It does so by means of local groups of women which meet regularly throughout the country.

It was formed on 26 June 1917 as the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes,[2] part of the movement of rural women's institutes started in Stoney Creek, Ontario in 1897. The first meeting in Scotland look place at Longniddry in East Lothian.[3] Catherine Hogg Blair had identified the need for a Scottish example of the emerging Women's Institutes movement and she organised the meeting at Longniddry to avoid a measles outbreak in her own village. 37 women became members[4] and campaigner Nannie Brown was the area organiser.[5] The SWRI created the chance for rural women to network and share their skills with one another.[4]

The group's magazine, Scottish Home and Country was first published in 1924.[2]

The name changed to Scottish Women's Institutes in 2015.[6]

References
  1. "About the SWRI". Swri.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  2. Cohen, Susan (2011). THE WOMEN'S INSTITUTE. Oxford. pp. 9–11. ISBN 978-0-74781-046-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. "History of the SWRI". Swri.org.uk. 29 June 1964. Archived from the original on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  4. "HistoryShelf.org :: Learning SHELF". www.historyshelf.org. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  5. "Happy 100th birthday Scottish Women's Institute!". 3 November 2017.
  6. Ltd, Designline. "Learn about the Scottish Women's Institutes, formed in 1917, for all women in Scotland". www.swri.org.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2015.


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