Margaret Thatcher – Biography

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts) was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, England. She and her sister Muriel spent most of their childhood assisting their father with her family’s grocery store. Furthermore, her father, who was a member of the town’s council, taught her conservative politics from a young age.

Thatcher won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, where she was head girl in 1942-1943. Her school reports showed academic consistency and brilliance in a number of extra-curricular activities such as field hockey, swimming and playing the piano.

In 1946, Thatcher attended Oxford University. She was initially rejected from Oxford, but another person withdrew and she graduated from Oxford with a degree in chemistry. At the university, Thatcher was the president of the Conservative Association where she came to be inspired by the political works of Freidrich von Hayek. This can be noticed in her reforms and policies.

After graduation, Thatcher’s stubbornness and arrogance caused some trouble when she was looking for a job, but she later worked as a research chemist in Colchester and Dartford.

In 1950, Thatcher applied to be the conservative candidate for a parliamentary seat in Dartford, although she knew it would be impossible to defeat the Labour Party. However, her colleagues respected her for her speeches. The following year, she married Denis Thatcher, a rich businessman. In 1953, she gave birth to the twins Carol and Mark.

Thatcher studied law for a while, but she returned to politics and won a seat in the House of Commons in 1959. She also became a member of the Shadow Cabinet, a group of political leaders who would get posts in the Cabinet if their party was in power.

In 1970, Thatcher was the secretary of state for education and science, but she had a hard time getting Prime Minister Edward Heath to acknowledge her ideas. However, Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, since she became the dominant force of the party when it lost power 1974.

The economic and political chaos in England during this time helped the Conservatives to return to power in 1979, and Thatcher became Britain’s first female prime minister.

At first, Thatcher had a tough time with the military. In 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, and Thatcher sent British troops that defeated the Argentines. After the Falklands War, Thatcher called election (which was a genius move) and was re-elected.

In 1984, there was an attempted assassination on Thatcher at the Conservative Conference in Brighton, but she was not harmed and continued with her speech the next day.

In 1987, Thatcher’s implementation of a fixed rate local tax made her lose a lot of support. Other problems arose, and her closest ministers turned against her. Her hatred against the rest of Europe caused problems within her own party, and in 1990, after eleven years, Thatcher was forced to resign.

Afterwards, Thatcher published several books about her views on politics and experiences as a world leader. Around this time, Thatcher suffered from several strokes and in 2003, she lost her husband Denis, followed by her old ally and friend, Ronald Reagan (former president of the US).

Thatcher stopped attending official events, including the wedding of Prince William in April 2011. She suffered from memory problems due to her strokes, and on 8 April 2013, Margaret Thatcher died at the age of 87.

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