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 the Manitoba Agricultural College (1919).
On 14 November 1925, she married Edmund John Stansfield (1891-1959) at Winnipeg and they farmed in Saskatchewan for a time. In the 1920s, she worked as an editor for the Grain Grower’s Guide and helped to organize boys’ and girls’ clubs. In 1931, she was the director at the School of Home Economics for Modern Home-Makers arranged by the Winnipeg Electric Company and Manitoba Free Press. She later became a pioneer in the consumer rights movement, being honoured by the Consumers Association of Canada in 1976 for her work.
In recognition of her community service, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba (1977) and a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), and was named a YWCA Woman of the Year (1979).
She died at Winnipeg on 3 June 1990 and was buried in the Garry Memorial Park.
Marriage registration [Margaret Mary Speechly, Edmund John Stansfield], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Announcing a School of Home Economics for Modern Home-Makers,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 April 1931, page 7.
“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, December 1999, 288 pages.
We thank Oliver Bernuetz (Legislative Library of Manitoba) for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 November 2025
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