Denis Thatcher

Sir Denis Thatcher Bt MBE TD CStJ
Dining at Downing Street in 1988
Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In role 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Preceded by	Audrey Callaghan
Succeeded by	Norma Major
Personal details
Born	(1915-05-10)10 May 1915 Lewisham, London, England
Died	26 June 2003(2003-06-26) (aged 88) Chelsea, London, England
Resting place	Royal Hospital Chelsea 51°29′15″N 0°09′30″W / 51.4874°N 0.1582°W / 51.4874; -0.1582
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Margaret Doris Kempson ​ ​ (m. 1942; div. 1948)​ Margaret Roberts ​ ​ (m. 1951)​
Children	Mark Carol
Alma mater	Mill Hill School
Profession	Business
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1938–1965
Rank	Major
Unit	Royal West Kents Royal Artillery
Battles/wars	Second World War

Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, MBE, CStJ, TD (10 May 1915 – 26 June 2003) was a British businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. He was the first male spouse of a British prime minister.^[1]

To this day, Thatcher remains the last commoner awarded a British title that could be inherited; he was granted the Thatcher baronetcy in 1990.

Thatcher was born in Lewisham, London, the oldest child of a New Zealand-born British businessman, Thomas Herbert (Jack) Thatcher. He studied at the Mill Hill School until he left at the age of 18 to become a businessman.

Thatcher was married to Margaret Kempson (1918-1996) from 1942 until they divorced in 1948. Then he was married to Margaret Roberts from 1951 until his death in 2003. Thatcher and Margaret had twins: a son, Mark Thatcher, and daughter, Carol Thatcher.

On 17 January 2003, Thatcher underwent a six-hour heart bypass operation. He had been complaining of breathlessness in the weeks before Christmas 2002 and the problem was diagnosed in early January. There, Thatcher was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer along with fluid in his lungs.

Thatcher died in Lister Hospital at Westminster in London, England, from pancreatic cancer, aged 88. His body was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium^[2] in Richmond, London. His widow, Margaret, died almost 10 years after in 2013.

• Media related to Denis Thatcher at Wikimedia Commons
• BBC photo archive
• His obituary (a life story) and picture gallery on the Telegraph website
• Denis Thatcher's grave