Margaret Thatcher, former
Conservative Member of Parliament for Barnet, Finchley, was
Britain's first female Prime Minster. She was appointed Prime
Minister, First Lord of the treasury and Minister for the
Civil Service on May 4, 1979, following the success of the
Conservative Party in the General Election of the previous
day. . In June 1983, she was elected Fellow of the Royal
Society (FRS).
When the Conservative Party subsequently won the General
Elections of June 9, 1983 and June 11, 1987, Lady Thatcher
became the first British Prime Minister this century to contest
successfully three successive general elections. She resigned
on November 28, 1990. In December 1990, she was awarded the
Order of Merit by Her Majesty the Queen. On June 30, 1992
she was elevated to the House of Lords to become Baroness
Thatcher of Kesteven. In April 1995 she was made a Member
of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born October 13, 1925, the daughter
of a grocer who was active in local politics as a borough
councilor, alderman and Mayor of Grantham. She was educated
at Kesteven and Grantham Girl's High School, won a bursary
to Somerville College, Oxford, where she obtained a degree
in Natural Science (Chemistry). While an undergraduate, she
was President of Oxford University Conservative Association.
She is also a Master of Arts (MA) of Oxford University
Upon leaving Oxford, she worked for four years as a research
chemist for an industrial firm, reading for the Bar in her
spare time. She was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in
1954 and practiced as a barrister, specializing in taxation
law.
As Miss Margaret Roberts, she contested two parliamentary
elections of the Conservative Party, in 1950 and 1951, before
being elected (after her marriage) to the House of Commons
in 1959 as a Member for Finchley.
Lady Thatcher's first ministerial appointment came in 1961,
when she became a Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry
of Pensions and National Insurance, remaining in this position
until the change of Government in 1964. From 1964 to 1970,
while the Conservatives were in opposition, she was a front-bench
spokeswoman for her party, and from 1967, a member of the
Shadow Cabinet. When then Conservatives returned to office
in June 1970, she was appointed Secretary of State for Education
and Science and was made a privy Counselor. After the general
election of February in 1974, she was appointed to the Shadow
Cabinet and became Opposition front-bench spokesman, first
on the environment and later (in December 1974) on Treasury
matters. She was elected Leader of the Conservative Party
and thus Leader of the Opposition in February 1975.
Lady Thatcher's husband, the late Sir Denis Thatcher, whom
she married in 1951, served in the Second World War as a
Major in the Royal Artillery. He was a former director of
Burmah Castrol and of other companies. He was made a Baronet
in December 1990. Sir Denis and Lady Thatcher had a twin
son and daughter, Mark and Carol, who were born August 15,
1953.
Lady Thatcher is Chancellor at Buckingham University, England,
and Chancellor of William and Mary College, Virginia USA.
She has received a large number of awards and honorary degrees,
including the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, presented in October
1998. Lady Thatcher is a patron of a number of charities
and has established her own Foundation.
Among her writings, The Downing Street Years was published
in October 1993 and The Path to Power in June 1995. Margaret
Thatcher - The Collected Speeches, was published in January
1998.
