Viscountess Rhondda - Margaret Haig Mackworth
Photo reference number: 1153
SOURCE: "Who's Who In Newport", The Williams Press Ltd, Newport, Mon. (around 1920)
Rhondda, 2nd Viscountess (1918 U.K.) Margaret Haig Mackworth was born 12th June, 1883. Is the daughter of the first Viscount Rhondda, P.C., of Llanwern (who died 3rd July, 1918,) and Sybil Margaret, the daughter of G. C. Haig (of which family Earl Haig is a member), of Penithon, Radnorshire. Was married in 1908 to Sir Humphrey Mackworth, (7th) baronet and justice of the peace for Monmonthshire. Is well known as having taken a very prominent part in the movement for obtaining votes for women. But although the rights of women have received such ample recognition as to secure their admission into Parliament, and the propaganda in furtherance of these particular objects, having fulfilled its mission, is no longer needed, the Viscountess has not ceased her intense interest as a practical worker in, and guardian of, the highest welfare of her sex. She is chairman of the Consultative Council on General Health Questions at the Ministry of Health, and the Women's Industrial League, of which she is also president, is stated to have now completed its first year's work. During the war she was appointed the Women's Section Commissioner for Wales under the National Service Department. She is also at present, amongst numerous other offices of a like character, president of the Efficiency Club, a member of the Women's Committee of the League of Nations Union, vice-chairman of the new weekly paper "Time and Tide." Side by side with this vigorous participation in social work, she has shown a phenomenal aptitude for business life, which has enabled her to carry on the direction and control of wide and important industrial undertakings. Her commercial ability is not only of the very first order, but being exercised by a lady of noble rank is justly regarded as one of the unique things in this country during the present generation. She is admitted to possess sound judgment and keen acumen in dealing with men and affairs, and her singularly comprehensive ability is indicated by the fact that she is identified, either as chairman or as being on the board of directors, with the following companies :—
Anglo-Spanish Coaling Co. Ltd.
Britannic Merthyr Coal Co. Ltd.
British Fire Assurance Co. Ltd., Chairman
Cambrian Collieries Ltd.
"Cambrian News" ( Aberystwyth)Ltd.
Celtic Collieries Ltd.
Consolidated Cambrian Ltd.
Compania General de Carbones Barcelona, S.A..
Cynon Colliery Co. Ltd.
D. Davis & Sons Ltd.
Genatosan Ltd., Chairman
Glamorgan Coal Co. Ltd.
Graigola Merthyr Co. Ltd.
Gwaun-cae-Gurwen Colliery Co. Ltd.
Globe Shipping Co. Ltd.
Imperial Navigation Coal Co. Ltd.
International Coal Co. Ltd.
Lysberg Ltd., Chairman
John Lysaght Ltd.
North's Navigation Collieries (1889) Ltd.
Naval Colliery Co. (1897) Ltd.
Plisson & Lysberg (Insurance) Ltd.
Pure Coal Briquettes Ltd.
Rhondda Engineering and Mining Company, Ltd.
South Wales Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd.
"South Wales Journal of Commerce" Ltd., Chairman
Sheppard & Sons Ltd.
Salutaris Water Co, Ltd.
Societe Maritime et Commerciale Franco-Anglaise
Thomas & Davey Ltd., Cardiff.
Time and Tide Publishing Co. Ltd.
Welsh Navigation Steam Coal Co. Ltd.
"Western Mail" Ltd.
The Viscountess has travelled extensively in various parts of the world, and she and her lamented father will always be sympathetically associated in the .public mind as having been two of the passengers rescued from the sea when the "Lusitania" was torpedoed by a German submarine on the 7th May, 1915. It will be remembered that the late Viscount Rhondda died prematurely at practically the zenith of his splendid career, and though it has been thought that this sad event was not altogether unconnected as an indirect result of that terrible moment, with the shock and peril to which he was then exposed, one thing is held to be quite clear, that he unquestionably suffered from the rigour with which, as Food Controller, in seeking to set :a high example to the nation, he himself carried out in his personal habits the regulations in regard to the restriction in the consumption of food. The death of Viscount Rhondda at the time cast a gloom over the whole land, as he was, by common consent, the one man in whom the people had unbounded confidence that in the stupenduous task before him he would achieve success where others had failed. The lofty conception of public ideals, the sustained effort, the concentration of power for achievement, and the inflexible .attachment to duty which so marked the character of the late Viscount are, it may be said, without hesitation, all faithfully reproduced in his distinguished daughter. Viscountess Rhondda is one of the executors of her father's will.
Residences: 15 Chelsea court, Chelsea Embankment, London, ;S.W. 3, and Oaklands, Caerleon, Mon.
