Margaret McMillan (1860-1931) was a nursery school pioneer, educator, and social activist who dedicated her life to helping others — the hungry, the working poor, and the often exploited. She defied the popular view during her time that children were meant for work and quiet obedience, and fostered their wellbeing, their imagination, and invested in their development. Working in poor areas of London, Margaret also campaigned for reforms to improve the health of school age children, including annual health inspections, installing bathrooms in schools, improving ventilation, and supplying free school meals for children in need. She also pioneered a play-centred approach to nursery school that is widely accepted and used today. For those of you tuning in for the first time, welcome! Here’s the deal: Every weekday, we highlight the stories of iconic women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. We’re talking about women from around the world and throughout history. Each month is themed. This month we’re going back to school, highlighting educators and intellectuals.
This month, we're going back to school with stories of the most influential women educators in history.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
All month, we’re going back to school, talking about women who made an impact in how and what we learn. Today’s Womanican dedicated her life to helping others — the hungry, the working poor, and the often exploited. She defied the popular view during her time that children were meant for work and quiet obedience. She fostered their wellbeing, their imagination, and invested in their development. It seems she was incessantly finding ways to improve the material conditions of others and she had a lasting legacy on the education of young children. Please welcome Margaret McMillan.
Margaret was born on July 20 in 1860 in Westchester, New York. Her parents were from the Scottish Highlands but they had moved to the United States 20 years prior. Margaret and her sister Rachel would spend most of their lives together. They grew up running around the fields surrounding their family home. Margaret later described it as “a very happy life.”
When Margaret was four years old an epidemic of scarlet fever took the lives of both her father and younger sister, Elizabeth. Margaret lost her hearing because of the disease and didn’t regain it until she was fourteen. Following the devastating loss of her husband and child, Margaret’s mother moved the family back to Scotland.
Margaret left Scotland when she was 18 to study the humanities before she became a governess for various wealthy families in Germany.
As the last decade of the 19th century peeked around the corner, she tired of working for wealthy families and moved to London to be with her sister Rachel. At that time Rachel was finding inspiration in Christian Socialism. Christian Socialism was a movement of the mid-19th century that combined the ethical compass of Christianity with the aims of socialism. Those who promoted its philosophy were concerned with the exploitation of the poor and criticized socially conservative Christianity.
Margaret converted and soon she and her sister were attending political meetings in London where they met influential socialist activists. Margaret and Rachel contributed to the Christian Socialist Magazine and Margaret began giving lessons to working class girls in London. These were the beginning years of their lives in service of the poor and disenfranchised.
For the next few years the sisters helped workers in strikes and traveled to different industrial regions in England, giving talks and visiting the poor to better understand the needs of communities. Their engagement also led to involvement in several socialist societies and groups. In 1902, when Margaret was 42, the sisters joined the recently formed Labour Party. It remains one of the major political parties in England.
At that time working-class children were expected to work long hours in terrible conditions as their parents did. Factory owners cared more about profit than safety, and children often got injured and were not paid well. This exploitation deeply concerned the sisters and they became champions for the wellbeing of all children. They canvassed for a bill that established a nurse in all primary schools. They established community health and dental clinics in a needy area of London. They used their connections to establish night clinics in Deptford, where children could get a nutritious hot meal, a bath, and clean clothes and bedding.
And they became involved in a campaign to provide meals in schools, arguing hungry children could not learn, and contributing to legislation that made it law.
In 1911, Margaret wrote “The Child and the State”. In it, she criticized the tendency of some schools to focus solely on preparing children for unskilled and monotonous labor. She believed schools should offer a humane and interesting education that spurred the growth of the next generation.
Three years later Margaret and Rachel opened the first open air nurseries for young children in Deptford. Local women were being sourced to work in munitions factories ahead of World War I. Their children either played in the street or were stuck at home in crowded tenements with nothing to do. Margaret and Rachel filled this need with the nursery. Within a few weeks there were thirty children at the school ranging in age from eighteen months to seven years.
Not only did the sisters help alleviate the burden of care locally, but their focus on the relationship between an early education of play and safety with child wellbeing and development has carried through to today.
Rachel died in 1917. Margaret was distraught over the loss of her partner in life and in service. But she continued her work in nurseries, and in later years she helped establish a college to train nurses and teachers.
Margaret McMillan died on March 29, 1931. She was 70 years old.
Afterwards her friend Walter Cresswell wrote of the sisters: "Such persons, single-minded, pure in heart, blazing with selfless love, are the jewels of our species. There is more essential Christianity in them than in a multitude of bishops."
All month, we’re talking about women who changed the world of education.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!