Lady Marguerite Georgina Hay

Marguerite Georgina Christine Coleridge ( Hay; 19 March 1916 – 25 March 2003) was a Scottish journalist, magazine editor and publishing executive. She began her journalistic career as a freelance contributor to Harper's Bazaar in 1936 before working for the National Magazine Company until the outbreak of the Second World War. Coleridge worked for Country Life and later Homes & Gardens as part of its editorial staff until 1963. She co-founded the Women of the Year Lunch in 1955 aiming to honour the achievements of women's success in arts, the professions and science in a "man's world". Coleridge was director of both Country Life Ltd and George Newnes Ltd as well as being IPC Women's Magazines's director of special projects from 1971 to 1974. She was the author of two books. Early life On 19 March 1916, Coleridge was born Marguerite Georgina Christine Hay in East Lothian, Scotland. She was the second of four daughters born to William Hay, 11th Marquess of Tweeddale, and Marguerite Christine Ralli Einstein. Coleridge was educated at the family home known as Yester House, in Gifford, East Lothian, by a succession of governesses from France and Germany. When she was nine years old, she took up shooting with a mixture of results, and began compiling a series of verses alongside her own horse racing sketches, which was a privately printed survey of types of equine published under the name Grand Smashional Pointers. Career At age 20 in 1936, Coleridge began a career in journalism, writing freelance as a contributor to Harper's Bazaar. The following year, she joined the circulation department of the National Magazine Company, before transferring to its advertising department. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Coleridge moved back to Scotland and volunteered in a Naafi canteen. In 1945, she joined Country Life, and joined the editorial staff of Homes & Gardens in 1947 under the editorialship of Alice Head. Two years later, Coleridge was appointed Homes & Gardens's editor following the retirement of Head. She had the objective of making the magazine attractive to the "whole woman" unlike other publications seeking to assist women in bettering their environments. Coleridge was chair of the Institute of Journalists’ London district for 1954.