Margaret MacDonald

Who was Margaret MacDonald?

Margaret MacDonald, née Margaret Ethel Gladstone was a British feminist, social reformer, and wife of Labour politician Ramsay MacDonald from 1896 until her death from blood poisoning in 1911. He subsequently became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times, but did not remarry.

Margaret Gladstone was born in London to John Hall Gladstone, later Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, and unrelated to the Gladstones of the Liberal Party. She was educated both at home and at Doreck College in Bayswater. Early in adulthood she was involved in voluntary social work, including visits for the Charity Organisation Society in Hoxton.

By 1890 she was a keen socialist, influenced by the Christian Socialists and the Fabian Society.

In 1894 she joined the Women's Industrial Council, serving on several committees and organising the enquiry into home work in London, which was published in 1897. She met Ramsay MacDonald through this work in 1895. She was very comfortably off, although not hugely wealthy.