Margaret Ashton (19 January 1856 – 15 October 1937) was an English suffragist, local politician, pacifist and philanthropist. She was the first woman city councillor for Manchester.

Margaret Ashton was born on 19 January 1856 in Withington, Manchester. She was daughter of cotton manufacturer Thomas Ashton (1818–1898) and his wife Elizabeth Ashton (née Gair). Ashton was the first woman to run for election to Manchester City Council, and in 1908 became the first woman city councillor when she was elected Councillor for Manchester Withington.

As a member of Manchester's public health committee and chair of the maternity and child welfare subcommittee, Ashton endorsed municipal mother and baby clinics and promoted free milk for babies and new mothers. In 1914 she founded the Manchester Babies Hospital with Dr Catherine Chisholm (1878–1952).

With the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, Ashton was amongst the internationalist minority who split from the NUWSS and the suffragette movement. She was a signatory of the 'Open Christmas Letter', a call for peace addressed in sisterhood "To the Women of Germany and Austria", which was published in Jus Suffragii in January 1915. She started a Manchester branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

In 1920 the Women's Farm and Garden Union established a set of small holdings in 1920 for women in Surrey. The initial funders were Margaret Ashton who found £5,000 and Sydney Renee Courtauld who lent £4,000.

In 1938, some friends and admirers of Ashton formed a memorial committee which funded two activities:

In 1982, the Harpurhey High School for Girls was re-opened as Margaret Ashton Sixth Form College.

Ashton's name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London; it was unveiled in 2018.