Miss Margaret McMillan (1860-1931)
She must count as an honorary Plymothian because of the legacy of her impact on Plymouth’s approach to education. Margaret, and her sister Rachel (who died in 1917), were significant innovators in terms of their approach to nursery education and its importance. The Mcmillan approach arose out of their socialism, but also out of their practical experience in teaching, and it promoted a holistic approach, rooted in a belief that to be successful (especially in rescuing the poor and deprived in slum areas), education had to be part of an integrated approach to ensuring the health and physical welfare of a child. The initial foray into nursery provision in Plymouth, before 1914, focused on these as day-care centres, providing safe and healthy environments in which infants and pre-school-age children could be cared for while mothers were at work. This was, in itself, pioneering. However, the innovative thinking and practical example of the Mcmillan sisters’ first school (and training college) in Deptford in London, from 1912-1914, was widely discussed in Plymouth,