Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda
essayist, autobiographer, suffragette (1883-1958)
Margaret Haig Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda (née Thomas; 12 June 1883 – 20 July 1958) was a Welsh peeress, businesswoman, magazine proprietor, and suffragette.
Mackworth and her father David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda were on the RMS Lusitania when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat, but both survived.
Early life
Margaret Haig Thomas was born on 12 June 1883 at Bayswater, London and was baptised at Saint Matthew's Church. She was the only child of the industrialist and politician David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, and Sybil Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda (née Haig), who was also a suffragette. In her autobiography, Thomas wrote that her mother had "prayed passionately that her baby daughter might become feminist," and she did become an activist for women's rights.
Thomas was raised at Llanwern House, at Llanwern near Newport, Wales, and was taught by a governess until the age of 13, when she went away to boarding school. She firstly attended Notting Hill High School then St Leonards School, in St Andrews. In 1904, aged 19, she took up a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she studied history. Despite her tutors providing positive feedback on her academic progress, she returned to Llanwern to live with her family after two terms, then ‘came out’ to society as a debutante.
Working for her father at the Consolidated Cambrian company headquarters in Cardiff Docks, she earned a salary of £1,000, which was a significant sum at that time.
“Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda” enters the record as essayist, autobiographer, suffragette (1883-1958). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Margaret, Haig and Thomas can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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