Margaret Farquhar
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Margaret Elizabeth Farqhuar (born 1930) is a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
politician, the first woman to serve as
Lord Provost of Aberdeen The Lord Provost of Aberdeen is the convener of the Aberdeen City Council in Scotland. They are elected by the city council and serve not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. They are equivalent in many ways ...
. Born in
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
as Margaret Burnett, she was educated at Ruthrieston Secondary School and then at
Webster's College ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
. In 1948, she became a clerk at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture, and then with a hauliers' firm, before in 1951 marrying William Farquhar. In 1971, Farqhuar was elected to Aberdeen District Council, representing the Northfield ward, as a member of the
Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...
. She spent time serving on the council's planning committee, and representing the council on a variety of external committees. From 1986, she also served as a director of the Aberdeen
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. From 1994 to 1996, she was vice-chair of the council. Farqhuar was elected to
Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Aberdeen City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Aberdeen was formerly governed by a municipal corporation, corporat ...
in 1995, and the following year was elected as Lord Provost of Aberdeen, also serving as Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeen. She was the first woman to become Lord Provost of the city. She retired from the council in 1999, and that year was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
. She remains on the boards of several local organisations.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farquhar, Margaret 1930 births Living people Lord provosts of Aberdeen People from Aberdeen Scottish Labour councillors Women councillors in Scotland