The name Thatcher is in the news again but few would be aware of the late Iron Lady's link to Wanganui.
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first and only female Prime Minister, died in London yesterday (NZ time). Although Baroness Thatcher visited New Zealand only twice, she had a strong link with the country through her husband.
Denis Thatcher, who died in 2003, was the grandson of early Wanganui resident Thomas Thatcher, who was born in the UK in 1848 and emigrated to Wanganui in 1878. He was chairman of the Wanganui County Council in 1882 and 1883 and a board member until 1895. He served as chair again from 1891 to 1895.
Thatcher married twice - his English wife Elizabeth died of tuberculosis in 1881, and he later remarried to a Wanganui woman with Northern Irish parents, Margaret Ann Reid.
In 1885, he and Margaret had a son named Thomas Herbert, known as Jack, who would later spend three years boarding at Wanganui Collegiate School. In 1897, the family returned to the UK and Thatcher set up a branch of his company Atlas Preservatives at Deptford. In 1911, Wanganui-born Jack took over as managing director there. Jack Thatcher married Kathleen Bird, a secretary at Atlas, and three years after their marriage, Denis was born. Denis served in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War and despite seeing no combat, was twice mentioned in dispatches and made an MBE. In 1942, he married Margaret Kempson, however, they later divorced. He married a second time in 1951 to Margaret Roberts, a chemist who two years before was selected as a parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party.
Wanganui resident Diana Beaglehole met the newly-wed couple in London in 1961 and wrote of her memories in the Chronicle late last year.
"What I remember most about that night was my meeting with Denis Thatcher. We sat next to each other at the same table throughout the meal. He was very pleasant and had lots to say on a variety of topics. After some time, he suddenly turned to me and asked, 'Now where are you from in New Zealand?"'
"'Well,' I said, 'you've probably never heard of the place; it's called Wanganui.'
"'Oh yes,' he said, 'my father was born there and went to Wanganui Collegiate.'
She said although the national press seemed unaware of the New Zealand link when Mrs Thatcher visited in 1972, when she visited again, with her husband in 1976, locals were on the ball.
"[The Wanganui Herald] noted various comments Denis Thatcher made to reporters in London before leaving for New Zealand. Thatcher said he'd never been to New Zealand but regarded it as a second home. He spoke, too, about his strong links with Wanganui and said one of his major regrets was that he wouldn't have a chance to visit the city during his wife's visit," she wrote.
"He also said that as a true New Zealand descendant, rugby was his religion and among the clothes he was taking was a New Zealand Rugby Union tie. 'I wear it with pride,"' he told the reporters."
In his 1978 book Streets Of Wanganui , local historian Athol Kirk wrote of the Thatcher family in Wanganui, with mention of Denis and his wife Margaret.
"His grandson is still a director and his wife is well known as Margaret Thatcher, leader of the conservatives. The name lives on in Thatcher St."
In 1979, Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister and held the office until 1990. In 1982 she won widespread popular support for her leadership during the Falklands War with Argentina, however, she would become a divisive figure in British politics due to her privatisation policies and trade union disputes.
In December 1990, Denis was made Sir Denis, 1st Baronet of Scotney, the last hereditary honour to be given outside the Royal Family. He died on June 26, 2003 from pancreatic cancer at age 88.
Baroness Thatcher died on April 9 in London aged 87 after a stroke.