II.

Early Life and Career

She was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, a small town in eastern England, the youngest of two daughters. Her parents owned a grocery store and her father served as the town’s mayor. Thatcher was educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School and went on to earn a degree in chemistry at the University of Oxford’s Somerville College. Thatcher was active in student politics and was elected president of the student Conservative Association at Oxford. From 1947 to 1951 she worked as a research chemist. She married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, in 1951. In 1954, having completed legal studies for the bar, Thatcher became a tax lawyer.

While in her mid-20s, Thatcher made two unsuccessful attempts—in 1950 and 1951—to win a seat in the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Parliament. Although she lost the races, she achieved much publicity as the youngest female Conservative Party candidate in British politics. In 1959 Thatcher succeeded in winning a seat, representing Finchley in north London. She would continue to represent Finchley throughout her long political career, only giving up her seat in 1992 when she was made a member of the House of Lords.

In 1960 Harold Macmillan, Britain’s Conservative prime minister, appointed Thatcher the parliamentary secretary for pensions and national insurance. From 1964 to 1970, when the Conservative Party was in the opposition, Thatcher became a leading figure within the party’s ranks. When the Conservative Party regained power in 1970 under prime minister Edward Heath, Thatcher was named to a cabinet post as minister of education. In that role she provoked a storm of protest by ending free milk programs in public schools.