Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1928 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. She attended Huntingtower Road Primary School, and then moved on to Kesteven and Grantham Girls School having won a scholarship.
After finishing secondary school during the Second World War, she studied Natural Sciences at Somerville College at the University of Oxford, again on a scholarship. Having finished her first degree in 1946 she carried on at the university to receive two more, finally leaving in 1950.
Margaret Thatcher's Early Political Career
Following her graduation, Roberts moved to Colchester and worked for BX Plastics as a research chemist. In 1949, after being informed by a friend that the Dartford Conservative Association were looking for candidates, stood for election. She was elected to be a candidate, and moved to Dartford, Kent to stand for election as a Member of Parliament.
There, she met her husband, Denis Thatcher and married him in 1951. In 1953, Thatcher qualified as a barrister and the couple's twin children, Carol and Mark were also born in the same year.
After a number of unsuccessful elections, Thatcher was finally elected to be the Conservative Member of Parliament in 1959. In October 1961, she was promoted to the front bench position of Parliamentary Undersecretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.
Under Edward Heath, Thatcher was made the Conservative spokesperson on Housing and Land, and in 1966, she was made a member of the Shadow Treasury team as their spokeswoman.
When Edward Heath's Conservative Party won the general election in 1970, Thatcher was made the Secretary of State for Education and Science.
Between 1970 and 1974, the Conservative Party suffered many difficulties and were defeated by the Labour Party. In October 1974, Thatcher who blamed Heath's government for losing monetary direction, challenged Edward Heath for Leadership of the Conservative Party. She unexpectedly defeated Heath, and on 11 February 1975 she officially became the Leader of the Conservative Party.
Thatcher as Prime Minister
Thatcher used the Labour Party's problems in the late 1970's to her advantage and attacked the government's poor unemployment records. In the 1979 general election, the Conservative Party won a 44 seat majority in the House of Commons and on 4 May 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Thatcher had a very eventful time as Prime Minister, with the largest event being the conflict in the Falkland Islands in May 1982, after the ruling military junta of Argentina invaded the small network of islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The Argentinians surrendered after Thatcher sent a naval task force and the move increased Thatcher's popularity hugely.
Thatcher's most unpopular decision whilst in power was the introduction of Poll Tax which led over 100,000 protesters to congregate in Trafalgar Square on 51 March 1990.
Thatcher won three consecutive general elections and also escaped an assassination attempt by the IRA in Brighton in October 1984.
Downfall of Margaret Thatcher
By 1990, the Conservative Party was becoming increasingly unpopular and divisions formed within the party. Michael Heseltine challenged Thatcher for leadership of the party and the first ballot attracted enough support to warrant a second ballot. However, on 22 November 1990, Thatcher announced that she would not stand for the second ballot, and therefore resigned as leader of the party.
In 1992, Thatcher became a peer in the House of Lords being made a baroness.
Thatcher's husband Denis died in 2003. She has suffered a number of small strokes and in mid-2008, it was publicly announced that Baroness Thatcher was suffering from dementia.
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