Margaret, Lady Moir
| Margaret, Lady Moir | |
|---|---|
Margaret Moir c.1900
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| Born |
Margaret Bruce Pennycook 10 January 1864 Gorgie, Edinburgh |
| Died | 5 October 1942 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer, educator, employment relief worker |
| Known for | Campaigner for women's rights and the electrification of the home |
| Spouse(s) | Ernest William Moir (1862–1933) |
| Children | Reginald Moir (1893–1915), Arrol Moir (1894–1957), Edward Moir (1907) |
| Awards | Order of the British Empire (OBE) |
Margaret, Lady Moir, OBE, born in 1864 in Gorgie, Edinburgh, was a lathe operator, a workers' relief organiser, an employment campaigner, and a founder member of the Women's Engineering Society (WES). She went on to become vice-president and president of WES, and in 1934 president of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW), in which role she gave full expression to her belief that 'the dawn of the all-electric era' was at hand. She had no doubt about the importance of this development in freeing women to pursue careers outside the home:
'It is essential that women become electrically minded. By this I mean that they must not only familiarize themselves with electric washing machines, fires and cookers, but possess sufficient technical knowledge to enable them to repair fuses and make other minor adjustments. Only by doing so will women learn to value electricity's cheapness and utility, and regard it as a power to rescue them from all unnecessary household labours.'
Margaret Moir was awarded an OBE in recognition of her work during the First World War in organising the Week End Relief Scheme for women workers and in raising money for the National War Savings Committee. As the wife of the prominent civil engineer Sir Ernest Moir (1862–1933), she described herself as 'an engineer by marriage'. She organized a simplified engineering course for women at several polytechnics, supported the work of pioneering women aviators such as Mary, Lady Bailey and Amy Johnson, and campaigned throughout her life for better access to employment for women.
According to her friend and colleague Caroline Haslett, writing after her death in 1942, '[Britain] would have fewer resources in the numbers of trained women engineers and women knowledgeable in electrical matters if it had not been for the practical advice and interest, and also the financial support, of Margaret, Lady Moir.'
Born on 10 January 1864 at Gorgie, near Edinburgh, Margaret Bruce Pennycook was the daughter of John Pennycook, quarry manager, and his wife, Margaret née Davidson. On 1 June 1887 she married Ernest William Moir of South Queensferry at Dalmeny in the county of Linlithgow. They had three sons: Reginald (Rex), b. 1893, who died in 1915 of meningitis; Arrol, b.1894, who on 14 June 1933 succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet Moir of Whitehanger; and Edward, b.1907, who died soon after birth. After their marriage, the Moirs lived mostly in London and, later, at Whitehanger, Fernhurst, Surrey, but travelled widely.
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