Allison Greenlees

Other names: 
Maiden name Allison Hope Cargill
Dates: 
Born 13 August 1896, died 4 August 1979

Born in Hillhead, Allison Cargill was the daughter of Mary Grierson, and John Cargill, an East India merchant.
With five friends from Laurel Bank School, Glasgow, she formed the Cuckoo Patrol, affiliated in 1909 to the 1st Glasgow Scout Group. In 1910, Guiding became ‘official’ and the Cuckoo Patrol became the Girl Guide Thistle Patrol. Allison Cargill went on to St James School, Malvern, where Guiding flourished with a strong Scottish connection. She later introduced Guiding in Glasgow, and when the First World War intervened, used her experience to help raise the Glasgow Battalion of the WVR. After the war, as Division Commissioner, N. E. Glasgow, she enrolled 30 Guides at a time. In 1922, she married Dr Greenlees, headmaster of Loretto School, and they had a son and daughter. Alongside commitment to the school, she continued Guiding, latterly as Midlothian County Commissioner and chair of the Scottish Finance Committee, both for 23 years. In 1939, she received the Silver Fish, Guiding’s highest award, and in 1953 became President of the Council for Scotland.

Images: 
Women on the Shelf block
Sources
The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women
Entry by Sheila Anderson
Photo - Women on the Shelf
Glasgow Women's Library