Margaret MacDonald (social reformer)

Margaret MacDonald, née Margaret Ethel Gladstone (20 July 1870 – 8 September 1911) was a British feminist, social reformer, and wife of Labour politician Ramsay MacDonald from 1896 until her death from blood poisoning in 1911.

Margaret Gladstone was born in Kensington, London, to John Hall Gladstone, later Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. 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 and they married in 1896. She was comfortably off, although not wealthy. This allowed them to indulge in foreign travel, visiting Canada and the United States in 1897, South Africa in 1902, Australia and New Zealand in 1906, and India several times.

After her marriage she was concerned about the need for skilled work and training for women and played a key part in establishing the first trade schools for girls in 1904. She continued this work until 1910.

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