Ask anyone the question - who was the first female MP and those who give an answer will surely reply, Lady Nancy Astor. And while American Astor was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, it is another, far less known name who would become the first British woman to do so. That name is- Margaret Wintringham. And it is her name, life, and legacy which I believe deserve far greater recognition.

I found Margaret’s name, in a 1921 edition of the school magazine in my school archive. I had been doing some work in there over the Summer with my mum. Most of the work was just sorting through dusty boxes and throwing away blank pieces of faded paper. But one day whilst I began to sort through yet another box a name stood out to me. Margaret Wintringham. I had never heard of her. And I would guess most of you listening have not either. Well, I think we should have. I think, in fact, we should all know an awful lot more about Margaret Wintringham than we do.

In short Margaret was the first female British and liberal female MP who held the seat for Louth from 1921-24. But it is what lies behind these words that is truly inspiring.

Even before her political career Margaret was a trailblazer- In Grimsby she met and married Tom Wintringham in 1903 a local timber merchant with whom she moved to Louth. There she founded a branch of the Women’s Institute in her town, chaired the Women’s War Agricultural Committee and supported Belgian refugees. In Louth, her husband became MP of the town and Margaret continued her philanthropic work, administering relief through the prince of Wales fund and working as a VAD nurse at Louth hospital. Thomas’ victory was a surprise as it was the only liberal gain of the year, and it seems likely to me that Margaret’s local prominence contributed to his success, not least because she organised relief work following severe flooding in her district. This appetite for change continued after she was elected MP following Thomas’ death in 1921. She received huge support from women’s suffrage groups, particularly excited that unlike Lady Astor, Miss Wintringham was one of their own. Wintringham did not speak publicly during her campaign as she was still in mourning, therefore she was dubbed ‘the silent woman candidate’ already demonstrating the attention paid to her gender in place of her policies.

It must have been intimidating for Margaret to enter the House of Commons as one of only two women, how must she have felt entering a room full of eyes looking down at her, but Margaret chose not to bow her head or back down the pressure of their stares, instead she stood tall and proud, confident she deserved to be there just as much of any of them did. This is demonstrated in her later speeches in parliament, where she asked her male peers how uncomfortable they would have felt joining an almost entirely female assembly. She often references how her experience as a woman gave her a unique perspective on government, as she said, ‘just as the woman is the housekeeper of the home, I look upon parliament to be the housekeeper of the nation.’ Three of Margaret’s most significant policies were: the prevention of the abolition of female police officers, the Equal Guardianship Act of 1925 – which placed the welfare of the child ahead of those of the father.

automatic right in divorce cases and the Over Thirty Association - which promoted the social welfare of older women and whose refuges continue to this day.

Previously discussed for decades, it took a female British voice in parliament to make changes such as these. These successes are made even more impressive considering the difficulties Margaret faced as a female progressive politician. Like all women in power during this time, more attention was paid to Margaret’s gender than her politics. The Times newspaper was particularly horrified that a liberal woman MP defeated a Tory knight in an election. Margaret’s contempt for the all-male boorishness of the house was often misconstrued as wild radicalism and dangerous in the conservative Victorian society.

However, these pioneering policies are not my main argument for Margaret Wintringham deserving greater recognition. More impressive to me was her commitment to causes beyond her own ambition and the liberal party agenda. She worked for women, with women.

Pushing their differences aside, she acted as the unofficial cross-party coordinator of the 8 women in parliament in 1923, uniting them behind causes such as birth control and equality of women’s pay, showing that they were stronger together. So, in giving Margaret recognition, we acknowledge all who worked tirelessly to get the voices of women heard. Her name may just be a name, but behind it are millions of hopes and dreams and decades of arduous work.

Even when it became clear she may lose her seat, Margaret stayed true to her beliefs. Her disappearance from memory is tragic but not exactly surprising. Wintringham lacked the social connections of a Bonham Carter or Lloyd George; she was regarded as being dangerously left wing and only retained her seat for a few years meaning much of her work was never completed. Whatever the reason, Margaret’s name was washed away with the sands of time and now, the only recognition of Margaret’s impact on British society are a plaque at her former school and an option to have her on your Liberal Democrat Membership card. Furthermore, only two biographical essays were written centred around Margaret and only two contemporary papers were published about her life and work. So, very few witness reminders of her legacy.

This is tragic, when so much of what she began remains unfinished. She forced the MET police to give women the full rights of arrest in 1923, but in 2023 only a quarter of the highest-ranking officers were women. She beseeched parliament to tackle ever present issues like child slavery in Hong Kong, to force soldiers to take responsibility for illegitimate children they fathered abroad and to reverse the dismissal of Fiji’s only female maternity doctor. Perhaps if we had not forgotten Margaret, issues these like these may not exist one hundred years later.

But why was Margaret hiding in my school archive? Well education seems to be an ever-present link between me and Margaret. Changing society through education, shaping the minds of the next generation through schooling were all hugely important to her and for me school forms a huge part of whom I am. All the friends I have made, hours I have spent and countless memories I have made within its walls are hugely important to me. And the link becomes even more evident as in 1897, Margaret came to Loughborough high school for her teacher training.

This was as she followed the path of her former headmistress as she moved to Loughborough taking up a new position there. But now her name is unknown by those who walk the same halls she once did.

Margaret deserves more, a national presence in British culture. Suffragettes have statues, names like Pankhurst are universally known. So why do we commemorate the women who opened the doors of parliament and not the woman who marched through them? You could argue the apparent trailblazer Astor deserves the recognition. And to begin with I would have probably agreed with this opinion, but within Margaret’s selfless pursuit of raising her voice for those who had none, I found a personal connection. This is because I too can be the outsider in a room where it feels like I made a wrong turn. Her fight may not be my fight, but it is symbolic of all our individual battles. Let us be courageous like Margaret and stand proud in rooms where all eyes are on us, let us fight for what we believe in regardless of the consequences and let us give more recognition to the woman whose example we must all try harder to follow. Because only through recognition comes attention; and through attention comes hope for change. As fundamentally Margaret was not just a political figure, she was a figure of change, who deserves to be recognised as representative of the British spirit by us all regardless of who we are, what party we vote for or what we look like.

On the hundredth anniversary of her losing her seat, now more than ever someone able to look past boundaries, stand tall in a room which wanted her to feel small and lead when women were expected to be lead is someone we should be mentioning far more often. I’d like to conclude with some words from The Times in 1956: ‘she remained until her death the same bright, helpful, and generous being whose presence captivated the House of Commons’ - a beautiful summary of a figure who demanded and still demands to be recognised for her astounding achievements as a politician, a philanthropist, a speaker, an activist but fundamentally a woman. 

I am Izzy Smith, and I am 17 years old. I am interested in a vast array of things including sport, drama, film, and writing. My main pastime outside of school is rowing and I am on the GB development programme for this sport. I perform in lots of local drama productions and soon I will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the summer. For my A levels, I am studying English Literature, History, French and Religious Studies; I am considering studying theology or law at university - I still cannot decide!

Photograph: Margaret Wintringham (photographer unknown)