Margaret Grace Cutler (1934-1996) was born in Birmingham. She was the only child of Brethren parents who attended the Stoney Lane meeting room in Yardley, Birmingham. It was here that, after recovering from a car accident, Margaret 'broke bread' (or, entered into fellowship) at age eleven. Brethren children did not usually enter fellowship until their mid-teens, but Margaret's request to do so was accepted due to the perceived miraculous nature of her recovery. As well as allowing her to enter fully into Brethren life, Margaret's recovery sparked a lifelong interest in biology. After attending King Edward VI High School for Girls, she went on to work at a laboratory attached to Birmingham Children's Hospital, undertaking a BSc at the University of Birmingham at the same time. Her choice to pursue a career in science was discouraged by her family, in part due to the condemnation of universities by James Taylor Junior. However, Margaret nevertheless went on to achieve an MSc followed by a Nuffield Research-funded PhD on the effects of folic acid and the development of cancers (1969), both from the University of Birmingham. After completing her doctorate, she took on a series of temporary posts in Birmingham before transferring to Lecturer in Physiology at the College of Technology, Glasgow (1974).
Margaret's academic career was met with bafflement by many of her fellow Brethren in Birmingham, particularly the older members of the community. However, she still regularly attended meetings at the Harborne, Rathbone Road, and Bingley Hall meeting rooms and maintained friendships with Brethren who lived in these areas. According to her close friend and diary editor, Edwina Hawker, Margaret put her academic career on hold by taking temporary posts in Birmingham largely to witness the conclusion of the 'Aberdeen Brethren' split concerning the necessary degree of separation from the world (1970). She had closely followed the fallout of the 'Aberdeen Incident' and was overjoyed at the discrediting of Taylor Junior's leadership, as evidenced by her enthusiastically detailed diary entries and meeting notes from this period. After the split, the Brethren divided into the 'Renton' and 'Strang' Brethren (1972) and then the 'Frosts' and 'Rogers' (1974), with Margaret moving from the 'Strang' to the 'Frost' position, as did most of the Birmingham Brethren.
After moving to Glasgow in 1974, Margaret advanced in her academic career, supervising numerous PhD students, presenting at conferences, and publishing her work on the 'pleasure centre' in the brain. Here she joined the Glasgow Brethren. The 1991 'Frost split', again regarding the necessary degree of separation, served to distance Margaret from her stepmother and aunt, who adopted the stricter line. Margaret, in part due to a desire to socialise with non-Brethren Christians, became one of the 'de-Frosted'. Shortly afterwards, in 1996, Margaret relocated to Devon, attending meetings and working on her hoped-for breakthrough on the relief of pain. However, the same year, she fell downstairs at home, fatally fracturing her skull. She is buried in her parents' grave in Birmingham.
