Margaret Dorothea Rowbotham
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Margaret Dorothea Rowbotham | |
|---|---|
 Margaret Rowbotham (left) with Tilly Shilling and Margaret Partridge in 1934 | |
| Born | 19 June 1883 Plumstead, Kent, England |
| Died | 23 February 1978 (aged 94) Willand, Devon, England |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Women's rights campaigner |
Margaret Dorothea Rowbotham[a] (19 June 1883 – 23 February 1978) was an engineer, a campaigner for women's employment rights and a founder member of the Women's Engineering Society.
Born on 19 June 1883 at 6 Park Villas, Plumstead, Kent, Margaret Rowbotham (sometimes known as Madge)[2] was the daughter of John Edward Rowbotham, a shipbroker, and Miriam Anne Isaac.[3] She was educated at Blackheath High School[4] and graduated in 1905 from Girton College, Cambridge, where she studied mathematics.[5] From Cambridge Training College, she received a diploma to teach.[4] In 1935, she stated in the Register of Women Engineers that she was "one of the first six women motorcyclists".[6]
Career
From 1906 to 1913 she taught maths at Roedean School for girls in Brighton.[4] Having completing six months' training in motor engineering at the British School of Motoring, she was awarded a RAC driving certificate.[3] This was followed by an assignment in 1914 as a teacher at Rupert's Land Ladies' College, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she stayed for two years.[4][7]
She joined Galloway Engineering Co. at Tongland near Kirkcudbright, Dumfriesshire, becoming a machine shop and works superintendent at Tongland Works beginning in 1917.[1][4]
After World War I, when the Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act 1919 meant loss of employment for many skilled women engineers, the Women's Engineering Society was formed in 1919, and Margaret Rowbotham was a founding signatory and member alongside Rachel Parsons; Lady Katharine Parsons; Margaret, Lady Moir; Laura Annie Willson and Janetta Mary Ornsby.[2] She was a council member of the society until 1944,[3] was made an honorary member of the society in 1962, and remained involved in it throughout her life.[1][8]
In 1921, she was employed at Swainson Pump Company in Newcastle as assistant works manager.[1][4] She then worked at Model Laundries in Wealdstone, Kent from 1922 to 1923 under Ethyl Jayne, before teaching again at Roedean School in 1924.[4] In 1927, she was appointed a director of the electrical engineering firm M. Partridge & Co., founded by her partner Margaret Partridge, where she stayed until 1953.[1][4] She also worked in other engineering positions.[1]
In her later years, she worked in Eastbourne as a manager of a guesthouse.[1]