Margaret Thatcher Biography

Politician, former British prime minister. Born Margaret Roberts on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady,” Margaret Thatcher served as the prime minister of England from 1979 to 1990. The daughter of a local businessman, she was educated at the local grammar school. Her family operated a grocery store and they all lived in an apartment above the store. In her early years, Thatcher was introduced to conservative politics by her father who was a member of the town’s council. 

A good student, Thatcher was accepted to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry at Somerville College. One of her instructors was the Dorothy Hodgkin, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Politically active, Thatcher served as president of the Conservative Association at the university. She earned a degree in chemistry in 1947 and went to work as a research chemist in Colchester and later in Dartford.

Only two years after graduating college, Thatcher made her first bid for public office. She ran as the conservative candidate for a Dartford parliamentary seat in the 1950 elections. Thatcher knew from the start that it would be nearly impossible to win the position away from the liberal Labour Party. Still she earned the respect of her political party peers with her speeches. Defeated, Thatcher remained undaunted. She tried again the next year, but once more her efforts were unsuccessful. Two months after her loss, she married Denis Thatcher.

In 1952, Thatcher put politics aside for a time to study law. She and her husband welcomed twins Carol and Mark the next year. After completing her training, Thatcher qualified as a barrister, a type of lawyer, in 1953. But she did not stay away from the political arena for too long. Thatcher won a seat in the House of Commons in 1959, representing Finchley.

Clearly a woman on the rise, Thatcher was appointed parliamentary under secretary for pensions and national insurance in 1961. When the Labour Party assumed control of the government, she became a member of what is called the Shadow Cabinet, which is a group of political leaders who would hold cabinet level posts if their party was in power.

When the Conservatives returned to office in June 1970, Thatcher was appointed secretary of state for education and science, becoming famous as "Thatcher, milk snatcher,” after her abolition of the universal free school milk scheme. She found her position frustrating not because of the all of the bad press around her actions, but because she had difficulty getting Prime Minister Edward Heath to listen to her ideas. Seemingly disenchanted on the future of women in politics, Thatcher was quoted as saying “I don’t think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime,” during a 1973 television appearance. 

Thatcher soon proved herself wrong. While the Conservatives lost power in 1974, Thatcher became a dominant force in her political party. She was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, beating out Heath for the position. With this victory, Thatcher became the first woman to serve as the opposition leader in the House of Commons. England was in a time of economic and political turmoil with the government nearly bankrupt, employment on the rise, and conflicts with the labor unions. This instability helped return the Conservatives to power in 1979. As the party leader, Thatcher made history that May when she was appointed Britain's first female prime minister.