Margaret Semple

Early life

Margaret was born in 1876 to Thomas and Agnes McNair who both emigrated from Lanarkshire, Scotland to Otago, New Zealand. Her mother died in 1887 after which her father took the family to Victoria, Australia.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Political career

Semple served as president of the Wellington women's branch of the Labour Party, and was a member of the party executive.^[4] Semple was elected as a Wellington City Councillor in 1938.^[5] She lost her seat in 1941, an election which saw all Labour councillors unseated.^[6] She was also a long serving member of the Hospital Board, sitting on it from 1933 until 1941.^[7] 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.^[8][9]

Semple died in 1967.