Margaret MacDonald

Margaret Ethel MacDonald (née Gladstone) was born on 20 July 1870 in Kensington, London. Her father was John Hall Gladstone, who later became the Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. Her mother was Margaret (née King), a niece of Lord Kelvin. Margaret MacDonald’s mother died shortly after her birth. She received education both at home and at Doreck College in Bayswater.

In her early adulthood, she engaged in voluntary social work, including visits for the Charity Organisation Society in Hoxton. She had a half-sister, Isabella Holmes, who became notable as a social reformer and expert on London's burial grounds. By 1890, Margaret was involved in socialist circles, influenced by Christian socialists and the Fabian Society.

In 1894, she joined the Women's Industrial Council, serving on several committees and organizing an inquiry into home work in London, which was published in 1897. Through this work, she met Ramsay MacDonald in 1895, and the couple married in 1896. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1911.

Margaret MacDonald was described as being comfortably off, which enabled her to travel abroad extensively. Her travels included visits to Canada and the United States in 1897, South Africa in 1902, Australia and New Zealand in 1906, as well as multiple trips to India. Her interests centered around women's skills and education; she played a significant role in establishing the first trade schools for girls in 1904 and continued this work until 1910. Additionally, she was a member of the National Union of Women Workers and served on the executive of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, taking a stance against militant suffragist action.

In 1906, she became involved in the founding of the Women's Labour League, serving as its chair until her death. Margaret and Ramsay MacDonald had six children, including Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981), who had a notable career as a politician, colonial governor, and diplomat; Ishbel MacDonald (1903–1982), who served as an official hostess for her father; and Sheila MacDonald, who also had political ambitions.

Following Margaret MacDonald's death from blood poisoning on 8 September 1911, Ramsay MacDonald did not remarry. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on three occasions. Ishbel and Sheila regularly acted as his hostesses at official functions.

A memorial to Margaret MacDonald was reportedly designed by Ramsay MacDonald and sculpted by Richard Reginald Goulden. The monument was unveiled in 1914 in the garden of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.