A MUSEUM will share the story of a Somerset woman who became the first-ever female government minister 100 years ago.

Chard Museum will join historian and researcher Sue Dockett on Thursday, January 25 in The Guildhall, to tell the story of Margaret Bondfield.

In January 1924 Margaret Bondfield became the first ever female government minister.

In 1929 she became the first female Cabinet Minister. She has been described as ‘a lady ahead of her time’.

Margaret Bondfield, born in Chard on March 17, 1873, was a trade union leader.

She had little schooling and, as a Chard lacemaker’s daughter, started work as a draper’s assistant at 14. She found conditions miserable and joined the National Union of Shop Assistants.

In 1899 she was the only woman delegate to the Trades Union Congress. She then became its first woman chairman in 1923.

Somerset County Gazette:

She was elected a Labour Party member of the House of Commons that same year.

She became Minister of Labour in Ramsey MacDonald’s second administration.

Historian and researcher Sue Dockett said: “What sets Margaret Bondfield out from most other women activists at the time was that she was working class.

“The Pankhursts and others were all middle-class women.

“Margaret approached women’s rights from a working-class perspective.

“Her story is an incredible one – a triumph of determination and courage over the outdated beliefs of her generation.”

Sue, who wrote ‘Out of the Wilderness’, Reviving the Reputation of a Forgotten Labour Party Founder, also added: “Chard Museum is really the home of Margaret’s memory, but Chard is her birthplace.”

Chard Museum added: “Margaret was educated at Chard High Street School and at thirteen became a pupil teacher there for a year.

“In 1923, the same year as she was chairman of the Trade Union Congress, she became one of the first women to be elected to the House of Commons.

“She was elected Labour MP for Northampton. When Ramsey McDonald became Prime Minister in 1924 he appointed her as parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Labour, but she lost her seat at the next election.”

Chard Museum will be sharing Margaret’s story at an ‘Evening with Sue Dockett’ on Thursday, January 25 in The Guildhall, Chard.

Doors open at 7.15pm.