{{Short description|British Liberal Party politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Margaret Wingfield | honorific_suffix = CBE | image = Margaret Wingfield.jpg | image_size = | caption = Margaret Wingfield CBE | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1912|01|09|df=y}} | birth_place = Surrey, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|04|06|1912|01|09|df=y}} | death_place = {{Nowrap|Kingston on Thames, England}} | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = President, Liberal Party (UK)<br /> President, National Council for Women | height = | weight = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Margaret Elizabeth Wingfield''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (19 January 1912 – 6 April 2002) was a British Liberal Party politician and President of the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1976.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/17/guardianobituaries.obituaries1|title=Margaret Wingfield|last=Meadowcroft|first=Michael|date=17 April 2002|work=The Guardian|access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref>
==Background== Wingfield was educated at Freiburg University and the London School of Economics. She was a social worker and housewife.<ref>The Times House of Commons, 1964</ref> She was the niece of the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Charles McCurdy. Her granddaughter is Carita Ogden, who was a Liberal Democrat Councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth.
==Political career== Wingfield was active internally with the Liberal Party. She served on the Liberal Party Council from 1962. She was an executive member, of the British Group of Liberal International.<ref>The Times House of Commons, 1966</ref> She was Chairman of the Liberal Party social security panel.<ref>The Times House of Commons, 1970</ref> She was President of the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1976. Her term of office coincided with the time of the revelations about party leader, Jeremy Thorpe's private life and his subsequent resignation.
Wingfield also stood as a Liberal candidate for public office. She stood as a candidate in Putney at the 1961 London County Council election. She also stood four times for parliament; for Wokingham in 1964 and 1966, at the 1967 Walthamstow West by-election and for Chippenham in 1970.
== External links == * [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/apr/17/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 "She kept the Liberals together after the Jeremy Thorpe affair" (obituary)], ''The Guardian'', London, 17 April 2002.
==References== <references />
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box | title=President of the Liberal Party | before=Arthur Holt | after=Basil Goldstone | years=1975–1976}} {{s-npo}} {{succession box|title=President of the National Council of Women of Great Britain|years=1980–1984|before=Diane Reid|after=Mary Mayne}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Margaret}} Category:1912 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:University of Freiburg alumni Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK) Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Presidents of the National Council of Women of Great Britain
{{UK-politician-stub}}