Memorable Manitobans: Margaret Mary Speechly Stansfield (1896-1990)

Consumer activist.

Born at Neston, England on 21 May 1896, she came to Manitoba at an early age with her parents, Henry Martindale Speechly and Mary Barrett, and graduated in home economics from Manitoba Agricultural College. On 14 November 1925, she married Edmund John Stansfield (1891-1959) at Winnipeg and they farmed in Saskatchewan for a time. She worked as an editor for the Grain Grower’s Guide in the 1920s, and later became a pioneer in the consumer rights movement, being honoured by the Consumers Association of Canada in 1976 for her work. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba (1977), received a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), and was name a YWCA Woman of the Year (1979). She died at Winnipeg on 3 June 1990.

Sources:

Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“E. Stansfield dies in hospital,” Winnipeg Free Press, 26 February 1959, page 20.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 6 June 1990, page 40.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 8 December 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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