Ramsay MacDonald

In 1896, he married Margaret Ethel Gladstone, a feminist and social reformer. The marriage was a quite happy one, and the couple were blessed with six children. In 1911, his wife died from blood poisoning which left MacDonald devastated and he never married again.

In 1936, his condition worsened and a sea voyage was recommended to restore his health. Unfortunately, he died on November 9, 1937, aboard the liner, Reina del Pacifico, at sea, at the age of 71. After the funeral, his ashes were buried alongside his wife at Spynie in his native Morayshire.

James Ramsay MacDonald was born on October 12, 1866 in the village of Lossiemouth in Scotland. He was the illegitimate son of John MacDonald, a plowman and a Highlander from the Black Isle of Ross, and Anne Ramsay, a housemaid.

He received his elementary education from the Free Kirk School in Lossiemouth and the Drainie Parish School. Subsequently, he worked as a pupil-teacher and later moved to Bristol to work as a clergyman’s assistant.

While working, he joined the Bristol branch of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), a Marxist-oriented society. His went to London in 1886.

After being employed on a clerical job in London for several years, he joined the Independent Labour party (ILP), in 1894. The following year, he ran unsuccessfully as an ILP candidate for a seat in Parliament.

In 1896, he got married and subsequently became a journalist, writing for Labour and Socialist journals. Over the next few years, MacDonald rose in his career and gained reputation is the society.

In 1900, upon the formation of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which later transformed into the Labour Party, MacDonald was unanimously chosen its first secretary.

In 1911, he became Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

During World War I, MacDonald’s opposition to the British entry in the Great War resulted in decline of his popularity. He was heavily criticized by the press and as a result, MacDonald resigned from his post.

Although his first Labour government in 1924 lasted less than a year, this short term established the fact that the Labour Party was amply skilled and efficient enough to run the government. This led to the return of MacDonald’s Labour government in 1929, and for the third time in 1931 as a coalition national government. A powerful orator, he also earned much public admiration for his pacifism.