Margaret Semple
{{Short description|New Zealand socialist and politician (1876–1967)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Margaret Semple
|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|JP|size=85%}}
|image = Margaret Semple.jpg
|office1 = Wellington City Councillor
|term_start1 = 11 May 1938
|term_end1 = 17 May 1941
|constituency2 = At-large
|birth_date = 1876
|birth_place = Bluff, New Zealand
|death_date = 3 September 1967
|death_place = Wellington, New Zealand
|profession =
|spouse = Bob Semple
|children = 4
|religion =
|party = Labour
}}
Margaret Semple {{post-nominals|country=NZL|JP|size=85%}} (née McNair, 1876–3 September 1967) was a New Zealand socialist and local politician. She was married to Bob Semple, a Labour Party Cabinet Minister.
Biography
=Early life=
Margaret was born in 1876 to Thomas and Agnes McNair who both emigrated from Lanarkshire, Scotland to Otago, New Zealand.{{cite news |work=The Dominion |page=6 |title=Wife of former M.P. dies |date=6 September 1967 }} Her mother died in 1887 after which her father took the family to Victoria, Australia.{{sfn|Hickey|2010|p=34}} Margaret married Bob Semple, a coal miner and unionist, at Outtrim, Victoria, on 27 June 1898. She gave birth to their first child a year later. The Semples initially lived in Western Australia, but when Margaret fell sick, they had to return to Victoria.{{DNZB|last=Richardson|first=Len|id=3s11|title=Semple, Robert|accessdate=30 December 2013}} She was friends with Margaret Thorn who labelled her a "capable woman" referring to how she almost solely raised her children whilst her husband was away on union or political matters. Thorn recalled a story where a girl accidentally cut off two of her fingers only for Semple to sew them back on with thread for a full recovery.{{sfn|Hickey|2010|p=144}}
=Political career=
Semple served as president of the Wellington women's branch of the Labour Party, and was a member of the party national executive from 1930 to 1943.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380509.2.32 |work=The Evening Post |page=6 |title=Who's Who for the Elections |date=9 May 1938 |access-date=27 October 2016 |volume=CXXV |issue=107 }} Semple was elected as a Wellington City Councillor in 1938.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380518.2.25.4 |work=The Evening Post |page=4 |title=Wellington City Council |date=18 May 1938 |access-date=27 October 2016 |volume=CXXV |issue=115 }} She lost her seat in 1941, an election which saw all Labour councillors unseated.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19410519.2.105.4 |work=The Evening Post |page=9 |title=New City Council |date=19 May 1941 |access-date=27 October 2016 |volume=CXXXI |issue=116 }} She was also a long serving member of the Hospital Board, sitting on it from 1933 until 1941.{{sfn|Hickey|2010|pp=297-8}} Historians have argued that her own political contributions between the 1910s and 1940s were considerable, though heavily overshadowed by her husband's, who himself seldom acknowledged her efforts in any depth.{{cite book |last=Stace |first=Hilary |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Margaret |editor-link=Margaret Clark (political scientist) |title=Peter Fraser: Master Politician |publisher=Dunmore Press |date=1998 |pages=57–66 |chapter=Janet Fraser - Making Policy as Well as Tea }}{{sfn|Hickey|2010|p=298}}
Semple died in 1967 aged 91, Bob had died in 1955. She was survived by her four children, 8 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren.
Notes
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{cite web|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19391106.2.26.9?end_date=31-12-1960&items_per_page=10&page=8&query=Johnsonville&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1890&title=DOM%2cEP%2cNZFL%2cHN%2cHVI%2cKOP%2cMKURA%2cMATUH%2cNZCPNA%2cNZGWS%2cNZMAIL%2cNZSCSG%2cNZTIM%2cOTMAIL%2cPUKEH%2cUHWR%2cVT%2cWAG%2cWDT%2cWAIST%2cWI&type=ILLUSTRATION |title= Official opening of highway up Ngauranga Gorge, Wellington, 1939 by Mrs Semple (photo) |publisher= Evening Post in Papers Past |date= 1939}}
References
{{Commons category|Margaret Semple}}
- {{Cite thesis |last=Hickey |first=Carina |title=From Coal Pit to Leather Pit: Life Stories of Robert Semple |type=Ph.D. |url=http://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/1696/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1 |year=2010 |publisher=Massey University |access-date=17 March 2015 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Margaret}}
Category:New Zealand trade unionists
Category:20th-century New Zealand women politicians
Category:20th-century New Zealand politicians
Category:New Zealand Labour Party politicians
Category:Wellington City Councillors