Ishbel MacDonald

Ishbel Allan Peterkin was the daughter of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ramsay MacDonald and his wife Margaret MacDonald. Margaret's death in 1911 – a year after their son David had died – left Ramsay a single father to his remaining five children. When, in 1924 he came to power as Prime Minister of the country's first Labour Government, it was Ishbel, as the eldest daughter, who her father decided should be his hostess at 10 Downing Street. At just 20 she became the youngest person ever to take on the role.