Person

MacDonald, James Ramsay, 1866-1937

1866-1937

James Ramsay MacDonald was born on October 12, 1866, in Lossiemouth, Scotland.

He was a British Labour politician. When he was fifteen, he left school to work on a farm, and after a few months, he was appointed a pupil-teacher at Drainie. In 1885, he began work as an assistant to Mordaunt Crofton, a clergyman in Bristol. During this time, MacDonald became involved in the Democratic Federation, which later became the Social Democratic Federation. In 1886, he moved to London, where he spent some time being unemployed before finding a job as an invoice clerk in the warehouse of Cooper, Box and Co. MacDonald was very interested in Scottish politics and helped found the London General Committee of the Scottish Home Rule Association. In 1888, he worked as private secretary to Thomas Lough, who was elected to Parliament in 1892. MacDonald also worked as a freelance journalist and delivered lectures on behalf of the Fabian Society. He became the Leader of the Labour Party (1922-1931) and served numerous terms in Parliament. MacDonald was the Leader of the Opposition from 1924 to 1929 and the first Labour Party Prime Minister from 1924 to 1935. As Prime Minister, he advocated for peace, raised unemployment pay, improved wages and conditions in the coal industry, and passed a housing act that focused on clearing slums. In 1935, he retired due to declining physical and mental health. In 1930, MacDonald was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Wales, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, McGill, and George Washington universities.

In 1896, he married Margaret Ethel MacDonald (1870–1911). He died on November 9, 1937, onboard the liner MV Reina del Pacifico, in the North Atlantic Ocean and is buried in Morayshire, Scotland.