Editing Ramsay MacDonald (section)

==Personal life==
[[Image:Ramsay MacDonald ggbain.29588.jpg|thumb|upright|MacDonald {{c.|1900s}}]]
Ramsay MacDonald married [[Margaret Ethel Gladstone]] (no relation to Prime Minister William Gladstone) in 1896. The marriage was a very happy one, and they had six children, including [[Malcolm MacDonald]] (1901–1981), who had a distinguished career as a politician, colonial governor and diplomat, and [[Ishbel MacDonald|Ishbel]] (1903–1982) and [[Sheila MacDonald]], who were both very close to their father.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Lyon |first=Peter |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31388 |title=MacDonald, Malcolm John (1901–1981), politician and diplomatist |date=23 September 2004 |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31388|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> Another son, Alister Gladstone MacDonald (1898–1993) was a [[conscientious objector]] in the [[First World War]], serving in the [[Friends' Ambulance Unit]]; he became a prominent architect who worked on promoting the planning policies of his father's government, and specialised in cinema design.<ref>{{cite web|author=David Goold|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=202048|title=Alister Gladstone MacDonald (or Alistair Gladstone MacDonald)|publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects|year=2008|access-date=9 May 2010}}</ref>

MacDonald was devastated by Margaret's death from blood poisoning in 1911, and had few significant personal relationships after that time, apart from with Ishbel, who acted as his consort while he was Prime Minister and cared for him for the rest of his life. Following his wife's death, MacDonald commenced a relationship with [[Lady Margaret Sackville]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Fenton|first=Ben|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533044/Secret-love-affair-of-Labour-Prime-Minister-and-Lady-Margaret-is-revealed-80-years-on.html|title=Secret love affair of Labour Prime Minister and Lady Margaret is revealed 80 years on|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 November 2006|access-date=9 May 2010}}</ref>

In the 1920s and 1930s he was frequently entertained by the society hostess [[Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry|Lady Londonderry]], which was much disapproved of in the Labour Party since her husband was a Conservative cabinet minister.{{sfn|Morgan|1987|page=124}}{{Incomplete short citation|date=January 2021}}

MacDonald was born into a religious family, and was originally quite devout in his own beliefs. However as an adult, put off by "creeds or ritual"{{sfn|Elton|1939|p=38}} and attracted to morality resting "upon no supernatural sanction",{{sfn|Elton|1939|p=94}} he became an activist and a leader in the British [[Ethical movement|Ethical]] and [[secular humanism|humanist movement]]. Raised in the [[Presbyterian]] church, he later joined the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] as an adult "but neither creeds or ritual attracted him".{{sfn|Elton|1939|p=38}} Subsequently, he became interested in the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] movement during his time in London, and led Unitarian worship sessions. In fact, MacDonald was a passionate and prolific Unitarian preacher leading more than 500 services.<ref>Tom McReady (2015) ''[https://rpuc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ramsay-MacDonald.pdf Blessed is the Peacemaker: The Religious Vision of Ramsay MacDonald]''. [[Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church]].</ref> His Unitarianism led him to discover the [[Ethical movement]], and he attended services at the South Place Ethical Society (now [[Conway Hall]]).{{sfn|Marquand|1977|p=24}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Labour Church: Religion and Politics in Britain 1890–1914|last=Turner|first=Jacqueline|year=2018|publisher=I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=An American Looks at Gandhi: Essays in Satyagraha, Civil Rights, and Peace|last=Hunt|first=James D.|year=2005|publisher=Promilla & Co Publishers Ltd}}</ref> He became intensely involved in the Union of Ethical Societies (today known as [[Humanists UK]]), and friends with its founder, [[Stanton Coit]], writing regularly in Coit's ''Ethical World'' publication.<ref>{{cite book|title=No Wealth But Life: Welfare Economics and the Welfare State in Britain, 1880–1945|url=https://archive.org/details/nowealthbutlifew00back|url-access=limited|editor1=Roger E Backhouse |editor2=Tamotsu Nishizawa|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/nowealthbutlifew00back/page/n130 118]|isbn=978-0521197861 }}{{dead link|date=October 2023}}</ref> On more than one occasion he took the Chair at the annual meeting of the Union of Ethical Societies. His motives are evidenced in the manifesto of the [[Society of Ethical Propagandists]] to which Macdonald was a signatory (including Coit). The manifesto stated that Ethical societies "are founded upon a conviction that the good life is desirable for its own sake, and rests upon no supernatural sanction".{{sfn|Elton|1939|p=94}}

MacDonald's unpopularity in the country following his stance against Britain's involvement in the [[First World War]] spilled over into his private life. In 1916, he was expelled from [[Moray Golf Club]] in Lossiemouth for being deemed to bring the club into disrepute because of his pacifist views.{{sfn|Marquand|1977|pp=190, 191}} The manner of his expulsion was regretted by some members but an attempt to re-instate him by a vote in 1924 failed. However, a Special General Meeting held in 1929 finally voted for his reinstatement. By this time, MacDonald was Prime Minister for the second time. He felt the initial expulsion very deeply and refused to take up the final offer of membership, which he had framed and mounted.<ref>McConnachie, John. ''The Moray Golf Club at Lossiemouth'', 1988</ref> He ultimately became a member of nearby Spey Bay Golf Club where he gifted the Club Championship trophy that is still used to this day.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://morayspeysidegolf.com/spey-bay-golf-club/ |title=Spey Bay Golf Club |date=2020 |website=Moray Speyside Golf |access-date=July 16, 2024}}</ref>