Margaret Hardinge Irwin CBE FRSA (1858–1940) was a Scottish suffragist and labour activist who held important posts in the trade union movement.
Irwin was born on 13 January 1858[citation needed] off the coast of Peru on board the ship Lord Hardinge, from which she took her middle name.
[5] In this role, she campaigned for the creation of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and, when it was created in 1897, she was elected as its first secretary.
However, Robert Smillie became unhappy that she did not focus much attention on the campaign for an eight-hour day, and in 1900, Irwin decided not to stand for re-election.
She was nominated by the association to attend the National Convention for the Civil Rights of Women, held in London on 16 and 17 October 1903.