Although she competed in the Yorkshire Amateur Ladies’ Championhip as an 18-year-old in 1924, Margaret Hartley’s successes were centred around the 1927 and 1928 seasons. She was a member of the Bradford Gymnasium Club that retained the national women’s team title in 1927, and the following year helped them win the inaugural Northern Counties Team Championship. Her performance on the rings at that event was so accomplished that many of her male counterparts would have been proud of such a performance. At the 1928 Yorkshire Amateur Ladies’ Individual Championships, she finished third in the gymnastics event, and second in the high jump. The highlight of her career was in winning a bronze medal with the British team at the Amsterdam Olympics.
Great Britain