Margaret Semple (née McNair, 1876–3 September 1967) was a New Zealand socialist and local politician. She was married to

Bob Semple Robert Semple (21 October 1873 – 31 January 1955) was a union leader and later Minister of Public Works for the first Labour Government of New Zealand. He is also known for creating the Bob Semple tank. Early life Semple was born in Sofala ...

, a Labour Party Cabinet Minister.

Biography

Early life

Margaret was born in 1876 to Thomas and Agnes McNair who both emigrated from

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

, Scotland to

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

, New Zealand. Her mother died in 1887 after which her father took the family to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, but when Margaret fell sick, they had to return to Victoria. 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.

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. Semple was elected as a Wellington City Councillor in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

. She lost her seat in

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, an election which saw all Labour councillors unseated. She was also a long serving member of the Hospital Board, sitting on it from 1933 until 1941. 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. 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

External links

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Margaret 1876 births 1967 deaths New Zealand trade unionists 20th-century New Zealand women politicians 20th-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand Labour Party politicians Wellington City Councillors Wellington Hospital Board members New Zealand justices of the peace