Margaret Forrester (born Margaret McDonald) became a missionary, Scottish church minister and writer. She was one of six women who successfully campaigned for the right of women to be ordained in the Church of Scotland. She supported gay-rights within the church.

Life

Forrester had been educated in Edinburgh before she studied theology at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

with an ambition to be a minister. In the year before she graduated she was elected to be the University Theological Society's president. In 1967 six women wrote an open letter to call on the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

to allow the ordination of women. The six were Mary Weir, Claude Barbour, Elizabeth Hewat,

Mary Levison Mary Irene Levison (8 January 1923 – 12 September 2011) was the first person to petition the Church of Scotland for the ordination of women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1963. This was achieved five years later and Levison became a m ...

, Sheila White (later Sheila Spence and Forrester and they wrote an open letter requesting that women should be accepted as ministers in the Church of Scotland. Levison had been the first to petition for the acceptance of women as ministers in the Church of Scotland in 1963. Forrester had witnessed the debate which decided to nor allow women. Every year the request was renewed and in 1967 the six found that they were not allowed to lobby the men who were making the decision so they decided to hold a press conference. The

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

lent a room and the press were invited but they were not expected in any numbers. On the day the room was packed and the six of them, and their petition, were in the press. Her mother in law,

Isobel Forrester Isobel Forrester born Isobel Margaret Stewart McColl (1895 – 1976) was a Scottish born ecumenist. She was chair and an active member of the Scottish Churches Ecumenical Association. Life Forrester was born at the manse in Glenlyon. She was the ...

, was an enthusiastic supporter of the ordination of women. When the approval was given for women to be ordained Isobel sent a telegram to her daughter in law who was then in India telling Margaret of the "sweeping victory" on 22 May 1968. Margaret was ordained. Forrester spent years in India where she again could not be a minister but she could teach. She came back to Edinburgh in 1978 and she became the minister in Edinburgh's St Michael parish. She would lead there for 22 years. During this time she attracted controversy when she blessed a lesbian couple in the 1990s. It was speculated that this act had prevented her from becoming the moderator of her church. Forrester became a writer for children.

Private life

Forrester, who had been born Margaret McDonald, married Duncan Baillie Forrester, who became a professor of theology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Her husband died in 2016 aged 83. They had two children: Donald and Catriona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Margaret Scottish women's rights activists Alumni of New College, Oxford Year of birth uncertain Living people