Person    | Female  Born 20/7/1870  Died 8/9/1911

Margaret Ethel MacDonald

Feminist and social reformer. Daughter of John & Margaret Gladstone. Born 17 Pembridge Square, her mother dying soon after. Brought up to do good works, she became a socialist, joined the Labour party and married Ramsay MacDonald in 1896, who after her early death would become the first Labour prime minister.

She was interested in the working woman and worked herself to improve the lot of these women. She joined and worked with the Women's Industrial Council, concerned with women working at home in London. Recognising that women needed training to acquire skills for work she participated in the setting up of the first trade schools for girls in 1904.

Ramsay and she lived in a flat at 3 Lincoln's Inn Fields where her children were born and where she died. Ramsay wrote a memoir of her and her ashes are buried at Lossiemouth, Scotland with her husband's.

The photo comes from a book written about her by Ramsay after her death.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Margaret Ethel MacDonald

Commemorated ati

Margaret MacDonald

Bronze statue unveiled on 19 December 1914. Sculpted by Goulden to Ramsay's d...

Read More

Other Subjects

Eva Hubback

Eva Hubback

Feminist and suffragette. Born Eva Marian Spielman. In 1911 she married Francis Hubback, who was killed in WW1, leaving her with three children. 1916 - 17 director of economic studies at Newnham an...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Priscilla Wakefield

Priscilla Wakefield

Born Priscilla Bell in Tottenham. Quaker philanthropist and author of feminist economics, scientific subjects, travel, children's non-fiction. Best known book was 'The Juvenile Travellers' which ha...

Person, Children, Gender Issues, Race Issues, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Charles John Vaughan

Charles John Vaughan

Headmaster of Harrow School 1845 – 59. Born Leicester, son of a vicar. Educated Rugby and Cambridge, became a vicar and was then elected headmaster of Harrow. Resigned that post and went on to be: ...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Religion

1 memorial
Westfield College

Westfield College

Founded in 1882 by Constance Louisa Maynard and Ann Dudin Brown, as a residential women's college modelled on women's colleges already established in Oxford and Cambridge. The name probably came fr...

Group, Education, Gender Issues

1 memorial
Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda

Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda

The Women's Social and Political Union, secretary of Newport branch, founder of Time and Tide and the Six Point Group. Institute of Directors' first female president in 1926. Born as Margaret Haig...

Person, Gender Issues, Wales

1 memorial