Born of Dundee parents in Abadan, Iran, Margaret was apprenticed for five years to McLaren, Soutar and Salmond, and was elected RIBA in 1940. Later she was admitted as a fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the Royal Town Planning Institute. One of Scotland’s first female architects, she was also involved in music and dance, and was a solo verse-speaking prizewinner at the 1930 Dundee Music Festival.