Ethel Margaret Phillips

Dr. Ethel Margaret Phillips (1876–1951) was a medical missionary who worked in China for approximately 43 years. Before becoming a medical missionary, Phillips gained admittance into the Victoria University of Manchester and subsequently became the third woman to graduate with a degree in medicine from the University. Upon graduating, Phillips was sent to China as a medical missionary by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG). In China, Phillips faced some difficulty with the local population, as they did not trust foreigners after the political turmoil that had taken place recently before Phillips' arrival. Phillips' accomplishments in China include the construction of two hospitals, work with the YWCA, and the establishment of a private practice. Phillips rarely left China and only returned home in the end due to the civil war that was approaching. Phillips died three years after her departure in 1948.

Ethel Margaret Phillips was born in England in 1876. Phillips had a difficult upbringing as a young girl. At about the time Phillips was four years old, her mother abandoned her family, taking Phillips’ youngest brother, Herbert, with her. Since Phillips’ father had developed TB, it was decided that Phillips and her siblings would leave Bridgnorth, a small town in England, and go to live with their grandmother. Spending less than a year at her grandmother's house, Phillips was then sent away to London to attend school. Much of Phillips' childhood was made up of living with unpleasant hosts and being passed from school to school. By age fifteen, Phillips began earning her living through teaching at Rushmore College, a private school located in Kidderminster, Shropshire. Phillips took on various teaching jobs for the next few years, while also continuing her own studies. Phillips passed the Cambridge examination and then became an Associate of the Royal College of Preceptors.

In September 1898, Phillips took the college entrance exam. Upon passing the exam, she enrolled at the University of Manchester. Women were only recently allowed admittance into the University and were not yet allowed to enroll in the medical program. In her first term, Phillips took many science courses and when the medical school began accepting women, during Phillips' second term, she transferred right away. In 1905, Phillips graduated from the University of Manchester with a bachelor of medicine and surgery, making her the third woman to graduate from the University with a degree in medicine.

Around the time that Phillips was eleven, she heard a sermon given by a member of the London Missionary Society. After hearing the sermon, Phillips began to ponder the idea of becoming a missionary in the future. After she decided that she was too shy to preach, though, Phillips abandoned the idea. As a young woman, Phillips also developed many different medical conditions, including haemorrhages and fibroids, eventually needing a hysterectomy. Due to her frequent visits to the hospital, Phillips then developed the ambition to become a doctor. Both of Phillips aspirations came together when Phillips was short on money. A friend of Phillips advised her to apply to receive a scholarship from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to help to pay for her school tuition. To qualify for the scholarship, Phillips needed to go abroad as a missionary doctor and apply to a specific mission. Phillips decided to take the offer and applied to the Society for the Propagation of Gospel (SPG). Originally wishing to go to India, Phillips instead got assigned to do her mission trip in China and arrived in China on 23 October 1905.

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