The Australian Women's Register

The daughter of Tannatt William Edgeworth and Caroline Martha David, Margaret McIntyre was educated by her mother and a governess. She attended the University of Sydney and in 1907 graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. She married William Keverall McIntyre in 1908 and moved to Tasmania. They had four children.

Margaret McIntyre became involved with community work – especially helping women develop a sense of self-worth. She was state commissioner of the Girl Guides (1940-1948), and vice-president of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Anzac Hostel Women’s League of Remembrance. McIntyre became the first northern president of the Women Graduates’ Association, served on the board of the Queen Victoria Hospital, the Community Association Council and the ABC advisory committee.

Involved with the Launceston Progressive Education Group and the establishment of Brooks Community School, McIntyre established a youth drama group and was president and producer of the Launceston Players.

Awarded an OBE on 1 January 1948 for services to education, in that year McIntyre also became the first woman in Tasmanian Parliament when she was elected to represent the people of the electorate of Cornwall in the Legislative Council. Three months after being elected she died in an air-crash whilst returning from a National Council of Women Conference.