Margaret Ashton

Margaret Ashton (19 January 1856 – 15 October 1937) was an English suffragist, local politician, pacifist and philanthropist, and the first woman city councillor for Manchester. Career Margaret Ashton was the first woman to run for election to Manchester City Council, and in 1908 became the first woman city councillor when she was elected Councillor for Manchester Withington. As a member of Manchester's public health committee and chair of the maternity and child welfare subcommittee, Ashton endorsed municipal mother and baby clinics and promoted free milk for babies and new mothers. In 1914 she founded the Manchester Babies Hospital with Dr Catherine Chisholm (1878–1952). With the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, Ashton was amongst the internationalist minority who split from the NUWSS and the suffragette movement. She was a signatory of the 'Open Christmas Letter', a call for peace addressed in sisterhood "To the Women of Germany and Austria", which was published in Jus Suffragii in January 1915. She started a Manchester branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.