Margaret Bondfield
HER LIFE AND TIMES

Margaret Bondfield, born on March 17, 1873, in Chard, was a trade-union leader and the first women to attain Cabinet rank in Great Britain.

 

Margaret had little schooling. She was a lace makers daughter and started work as draper’s assistant at 14. She found conditions miserable and joined the National Union of Shop Assistants at its formation.

 

In 1899 she was the only women delegate to the Trade Union Congress. She became the first women Chair in 1923. In 1923 she was also elected as a Labour Party member of the House of Commons. Re-elected in 1929, she became Minster of Labour in Ramsey MacDonald’s second administration. She was defeated in the 1931 election. She then retired from Trade Union work in 1938.