Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda
| The Viscountess Rhondda | |
|---|---|
 Margaret Mackworth |
|
| Born | Margaret Haig Mackworth June 12, 1883 |
| Died | July 20, 1958 (aged 75) London, England, U.K. |
| Spouse | Sir Humphrey Mackworth (1908-1922) (divorced) |
Margaret Haig Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda (12 June 1883 – 20 July 1958) was a Welsh peeress and active suffragette.
In 1908 she married Sir Humphrey Mackworth, Bt (see Mackworth Baronets). In the same year she also joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and became secretary of the WSPU's Newport branch and a supporter of the WSPU's militant campaign. Between 1908 and 1914 she took the campaign for women's suffrage across South Wales, often to hostile and stormy meetings. She was involved in protest marches with the Pankhursts, jumping onto the running board of Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith's car in St Andrews and attemptimg to destroy a post-box with a chemical bomb. These activities resulted in a trial at the Sessions House, Usk and her serving a period of time in the prison there. She was released only after going on a hunger strike.[1]
On the outbreak of the First World War, she accepted the decision by the WSPU leadership to abandon its militant campaign for suffrage. She worked with her father, who was sent by David Lloyd George to the United States to arrange the supply of munitions for the British armed forces. In May 1915, she was returning from the United States on the RMS Lusitania when it was torpedoed by a German submarine. She was one of the lucky survivors.[2]
After her father's death, Lady Rhondda tried to take his seat in the House of Lords, citing the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 which allowed women to exercise "any public office". The Committee of Privileges, after an initially warm reaction, eventually voted strongly against Lady Mackworth's plea.[3] She was supported for many years by Lord Astor, whose wife Nancy had been the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, but Lady Rhondda never entered the Lords.[4] Less than a month after her death in 1958, women entered the Lords for the first time thanks to the Life Peerages Act 1958; five years later, with the passage of the Peerage Act 1963, hereditary peeresses were also allowed to enter the Lords.
In 1920 she founded Time and Tide magazine.
[edit] See also
- History of feminism
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- Suffragette
- Women's Social and Political Union
- Women's suffrage
- Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by David Alfred Thomas |
Viscountess Rhondda 1919–1958 |
Succeeded by Title extinct |
