At its peak the rent strike involved as many as 20,000 people with its influence extending to other working-class communities in the UK.

[3] The crisis of the rent strike was brought to a head when Mr Nicholson,[4] a factor in the Partick area of the city, sought the prosecution of eighteen strikers in the small debt court.

On 17 November 1915, thousands of shipyard workers came out on strike and alongside what had become known as "Mrs Barbour's Army" descended on the court in Brunswick Place, Glasgow.

Despite the possibility of further industrial unrest disrupting the supply of war munitions, the factor insisted on pursuing the case.

[citation needed] Within a month of the court case the Rent Restrictions Act was in place, and was designed to stop landlords from profiteering during the war years when housing demand was high and supply was low.