Margaret Bondfield

The Right Honourable Margaret Bondfield PC
Margaret Bondfield in 1919
Minister of Labour
In office 8 June 1929 – 24 August 1931
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland
Succeeded by	Sir Henry Betterton
Member of Parliament for Wallsend
In office 21 July 1926 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Sir Patrick Hastings
Succeeded by	Irene Ward
Member of Parliament for Northampton
In office 6 December 1923 – 29 October 1924
Preceded by	Charles McCurdy
Succeeded by	Arthur Holland
Personal details
Born	17 March 1873 Chard, Somerset, England
Died	16 June 1953 Sanderstead, Surrey
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Religion	Congregationalist

Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was an English Labour politician and feminist, the first woman Cabinet minister in the United Kingdom and one of the first three female Labour MPs. Like many figures of the Labour movement, Bondfield was a non-conformist - particularly, a member of the Congregational church.

Bondfield was born in Chard, Somerset, the eleventh child of Anne (née Taylor) and William Bondfield, a textiles worker with left-wing views. She began an apprenticeship at the age of 14 in a draper's shop in Brighton, where a customer, Louisa Martindale, befriended her; Martindale took her under her wing, helped educate her, and lent her books on left-wing politics. In 1894 she moved to London and was elected to the Shop Assistants' Union district council.

In 1896 the Women's Industrial Council commissioned her to investigate the pay and conditions of shop workers, and she published a report on this in 1898. In 1898 she was elected assistant secretary of the Shop Assistants' Union and in 1908 became secretary of the Women's Labour League. She was President of the Trades Union Congress General Council in 1923.

In 1923 Bondfield was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Northampton at her third attempt but lost her seat in the general election a year later. She again stood for election in 1926, this time at a by-election in the Wallsend constituency. She was appointed Minister of Labour by Ramsay MacDonald on 8 June 1929. This was the first time that a woman had been made a Cabinet Minister in Britain. She was defeated in the 1931 general election and despite standing at Wallsend in 1935, she never returned to the House of Commons. In 1937 she was selected to be the Labour candidate at Reading, for an election expected in 1939 or 1940.

During World War II Bondfield was chair of the Women's Group on Public Welfare.

Books by Margaret Bondfield

• Socialism for Shop Assistants (1909)
• The National Care of Maternity (1914)
• The Meaning of Trade (1928)
• Why Labour Fights (1941)
• Our Towns: A Close-up (1943)
• A Life's Work (1949)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Margaret Bondfield
• Chard Museum

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles McCurdy	Member of Parliament for Northampton 1923–1924	Succeeded by Arthur Holland
Preceded by Sir Patrick Hastings	Member of Parliament for Wallsend 1926–1931	Succeeded by Irene Ward
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland	Minister of Labour 1929–1931	Succeeded by Sir Henry Betterton