Margaret was born on November 30th, 1865. Her first intimation of
the Bahá’í Faith was through reading “The Christian Commonwealth” and she
admitted later that “she did not think any more about it”. She received this
journal from her sister who was in London studying music and had heard
‘Abdu’l-Bahá address the congregation of St. John’s, Westminster at the
invitation of Canon Wilberforce. She was so impressed that when another
discourse given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at City Temple, London was printed in “The
Christian Commonwealth” dated March 27th, 1911, she sent a copy of the journal to
Margaret in New Zealand.
In 1912, Miss Dorothea, Spinney, a friend of Margaret’s
sister, arrived in Auckland from London and stayed with Margaret at her home. Miss
Dorothea Spinney gave recitals of Greek plays. While staying with Margaret she
talked about the Bahá’í Cause and her own meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This
evidently touched a subconscious chord in Margaret.
To quote Margaret’s own words: “As a child, I used to wish I
had lived when Christ was on earth. As Miss Spinney spoke, I remembered my
childhood wish, and the thought came to me that I too might have denied Him as
so many others had done. It was this secret thought that made me seriously
think of what I heard from Miss Spinney, and through God’s grace and mercy I
was enabled to grasp and believe in Bahá’u’lláh and His Message”.
