Marion Phillips

Who was Marion Phillips?

Marion Phillips was a Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament in England.

She was born to a family in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1881. She was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne and Melbourne University, graduating in 1903 and in 1904 began a research scholarship at the London School of Economics. Between 1906 and 1910 she worked under the direction of Beatrice Webb on a Commission investigating the Poor Laws.

A member of the Women's Labour League from 1908 she became its secretary in 1912. She also edited the League's leaflet, which by 1913 became Labour Woman. When World War I broke out she became a member of the War Emergency Workers' National Committee. In 1916 Phillips was present at the formation of the Standing Joint Committee of Industrial Women's Organisations. Phillips was its secretary between 1917 and 1932.

Phillips also served on a number of government committees before a woman had been elected to the country's parliament. The most significant were the Consumer Council of the Ministry of Food and the Women's Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction.