Margaret Hilda Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher's overwhelming sense of self-confidence and ambition ruled her life from the time she was a small child in Grantham, though her Oxford years and during her early years in politics. It led her to become the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain, and also helped through her difficult political years as "Attila the Hun".

Britain's first female Prime Minister was born on October 13, 1925 in a small room over a grocer's shop in Grandham, England. Margaret Hilda was the second daughter of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. She often stated that she was brought up very strictly:

I owe everything in my life to two things: a good home, and a good education.

My home was ordinary, but good in the sense that my parents were passionately interested in the future of my sister and myself. At the same time, they gave us a good education - not only in school, but at home as well (Gardiner, 1975,

p.13).

As a child, thrift and practicality were instilled in Margaret's character. The Methodist church played an active part in the lives of the

Roberts. She attended good schools as a child and spent her years studying with the intent of attending Oxford. Margaret arrived at Oxford in the autumn of

1943. During her years here, Margaret worked in a canteen for the war effort, continued her interest in music by joining various choirs and joined the Oxford

University Conservative Association where she became very active in it's political activities.

After Oxford, Margaret became the youngest female candidate of the

Dartford Association. She was unofficially engaged to Denis Thatcher at this time, and they married in December 1951. Twins were born the following year.

During this period, she studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1954. In the same year she was a candidate for the Oysington Conservative Association.

Margaret won in a Tory landslide at Finchley, a suburb of London in 1959.

Her parliamentary career had begun. A stroke of good luck gave her the opportunity of presenting her first bill almost immediately. This bill was to allow the press to attend the meetings of the local councils. The bill was eventually passed and it greatly enhanced her reputation. In 1964 she was part of the opposition...

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... "ideology is empirical and instinctive, but not the product of great study or reflection, and it amounts to a rather simple (though not unsophisticated) radical libertarianism"(Mayer, 1979, p.11). Mayer goes on to say that she is hardly a mother-figure for a nation. Though she is caring and considerate with close associates, she does not project warmth or humor. The public sees her as a strict nanny, not a loving mommy. She is tough minded and has great stamina and a tenacious spirit. Thatcher has stated that she has never doubted her fundamental convictions.

Margaret Thatcher grew up in an era when women were not normally successful as politicians or as business women. Even so, she managed to transform her sex from a liability to a major political asset. She may have been unpopular at times due to her approach to life and politics, but a "softer" female Prime Minister might not have been as effective. Recognition was earned through her overwhelming sense of ambition and dedication to the job: "Thatcher,

Milk Snatcher" was bestowed the title Baroness and there-by received the recognition that she had craved all her life.