Margaret McMillan

A pioneer of nursery education in inner-city areas, Margaret McMillan changed the course of British educational history. While many are aware of the various social reforms she initiated, few are familiar with the life of the woman herself. Originally published in 1989, working from her own fresh collection of Margaret McMillan’s letters and newspaper articles, Dr Bradburn tells in full the inspiring story of a cultured woman who found a new motivation.

Born in America into a middle-class family in 1860, Margaret McMillan spent most of her life in Britain struggling to improve the lot of the poor and needy. Outraged by the living and working conditions of labourers in Victorian England, she turned her moral indignation into effective action by throwing herself into a campaign for a more just and compassionate society. She was a colleague of Keir Hardie, a founder member of the Independent Labour Party, and worked wholeheartedly from the 1890s for the betterment and advancement of the human race. J. B. Priestley, who knew Margaret McMillan when she was a member of the Bradford School Board, later described as ‘one of those terrible nuisances who get things done and do more good than a load of bishops’.

In the light of discussions on the urgent need for urban renewal and improvements in nursery education at the time of original publication, a review of the innovative work of Margaret McMillan was timely. This well-documented biography gives fascinating glimpses of a remarkable pilgrimage whose results have not been effaced by time.