Pirrie, Margaret Montgomery (1857–1935)
Pirrie, Margaret Montgomery (1857–1935)
First woman justice of the peace in Belfast, Ireland. Born Margaret Montgomery Carlile in 1857; died in London, England, in 1935; married William Pirrie (partner and later chair of Harland & Wolff's shipbuilding firm), in 1879 (died 1924).
Born in 1857 and married to William Pirrie in 1879, Margaret Pirrie became Belfast's first woman justice of the peace and the first woman to receive the freedom of the city. Pirrie was also active in charity work, serving as president of the Royal Victoria Hospital. She also served on the Senate of Queen's University, Belfast, and as president of Harland & Wolff's, the Belfast shipbuilding firm of which her husband was chair. (William, who died in 1924, had introduced the innovative designs that led to the building of large ocean liners.)