Career
Margaret Ashton was the first woman to run for election to Manchester City Council, and in 1908 became the first woman City Councillor when she was elected Councillor for Manchester Withington. In 1914 she founded the Manchester Babies" Hospital with Doctor Catherine Chisholm (1878–1952). With the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, Ashton was amongst the internationalist minority who split from the NUWSS and the suffragette movement.
She was a signatory of the "Open Christmas Letter", a call for peace addressed in sisterhood "To the Women of Germany and Austria", which was published in Jus Suffragii in January 1915.
She started a Manchester branch of the Women"s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1938, some friends and admirers of Ashton formed a memorial committee which funded two activities:
A seat in the Manchester Town Hall for the use of the Lady Mayoress and other guests.
A bi-annual memorial lecture series, organised by the Victoria University of Manchester, alternating between the university and the Corporation of Manchester. The first lecture, on the Victorians was given by Mary Stocks, the principle of Westfield College on 20 March 1941.
In 1982, the Harpurhey High School for Girls was re-opened as Margaret Ashton Sixth Form College.
Margaret Ashton is one of six women on a nomination list for a new public statue in Manchester.