Margaret Parker

Margaret Eleanor Parker (1827–1896) was a British social activist, social reformer, and travel writer who was involved in the temperance movement. She was a founding member of the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA) in 1876, and served as its first president. Born in England, Parker resided in Scotland. She was a delegate to the 1876 International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT) meeting which led to the formation of the BWTA. She was also instrumental in founding the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WWCTU). In 1881, she founded another type of women's association, one which focused on horticulture and supply, but it did not flourish. Parker described her travels in the Eastern United States in Six Happy Months amongst the Americans (1874). Early life Parker was born in England in 1827, of an old Tory or Conservative line. Career Her charitable activities began with paying off church debts and raising funds for "church extension." She worked for woman suffrage side by side with the party of John Stuart Mill. A wife, mother, and housekeeper, she addressed the British Social Science Congress on the question of capital and labor. She marshaled a procession of 60 of her townswomen to the headquarters of the magistrate, where they presented a no-license petition with 9,000 names of women — all this in the days of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Women's Crusade and under its inspiration.