Mary Stirling

Mary Stirling was an American labor unionist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Stirling worked as a shoemaker in Philadelphia. In 1880, she joined a new Knights of Labor local, Garfield Assembly No. 1684, which she co-led with Mary Hanafin.^[1]

In 1883, Stirling was elected as one of eight District 1 delegates to the national Knights of Labor convention.^[2] The conventions had previously been all-male, but union leader Terence V. Powderly ruled that women should be admitted on an equal basis with men.^[3] Stirling was appointed Grand Venerable Sage of the convention and received three votes for Grand Worthy Foreman, the second-highest office in the union.^[2]

In 1885, she was re-elected as General Venerable Sage at the union’s convention and appointed secretary of a Knights of Labor committee to collect data on women and work. In 1886, she received seven votes in the election for chair of the co-operative board.^[2]

As of 1902, Stirling was still residing in Philadelphia, working as the forewoman of a department in a large shoe factory.^[4]