Mary Elizabeth Phillips (suffragette)

Mary Elizabeth Phillips
Born	1880 St Mary Bourne
Died	1969 Hove, Sussex
Nationality	United Kingdom
Occupation	Activist

Mary Elizabeth Phillips (15 July 1880 - 21 June 1969) was a suffragette, feminist and socialist. She was the longest prison serving suffragette. She worked for Christabel Pankhurst but was sacked; she then worked for Sylvia Pankhurst.

Mary Elizabeth Phillips was born in Hampshire, the daughter of William Fleming Phillips and Louisa Elizabeth (Simms) Phillips. Her father was a doctor who worked in Glasgow.

Phillips was encouraged by her father to campaign for women's rights and in 1904 she became a paid official of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women's Suffrage. She later reported that this taught her that quiet campaigning was not going to be sufficient and she joined the more radical Women's Social & Political Union in 1907 and established a Glasgow branch of the WSPU. She wrote articles for Forward which was the journal of the Glasgow ILP.

In March 1908 she was sentenced to six weeks in Holloway Prison following a demonstration outside the House of Commons. A further arrest in June 1908 resulted in a 3-month sentence making her the longest serving suffragette prisoner.

Phillips was invited to Mary Blathwayt's home at Batheaston where the leading suffragettes met and recovered. It was known as the "Suffragette's Rest". Significant visitors were asked to plant a tree to record their achievements on behalf of the cause e.g. a prison sentence.

She worked for Christabel Pankhurst but was sacked; she then worked for Sylvia Pankhurst.

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