Emily Frost Phipps (7 November 1865 – 3 May 1943) was an English teacher and suffragette, a barrister in later life, and an influential figure in the

National Union of Women Teachers The National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT) was a trade union representing women schoolteachers in Great Britain. It originated in 1904 as a campaign for equal pay for equal work, and dissolved in 1961, when this was achieved. History Women te ...

Early life and career

The eldest of five siblings, Mary was born to Henry John Phipps, a coppersmith at Devonport Dockyard, and Mary Ann Phipps née Frost, on 7 November 1865 in Stoke Damarel, Devonport. While working as a pupil teacher she studied in the evenings so that she could gain entrance to

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

. Phipps became head teacher of the infants' school attached to the college. After obtaining a first-class degree in London, 1895, she successfully applied for the headship of Swansea Municipal Secondary Girls School. She left this position to return to Devonport where she worked again in an infant school. This time she studied for an external degree in Latin and Greek which she obtained from London University. A committed suffragette, she, together with fellow west country woman and lifelong friend Clara Neal (1870 -1936), joined the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality. It was an offshoot of the militant suffragettes after the Pankhursts decide to rule without democratic support fro ...

in 1908 following an anti-suffrage meeting in Swansea attended by Lloyd George, and set up a local branch. Like many other members of the Women's Freedom League, Neal and Phipps, together with two training college lecturers and a business woman, staged a boycott on the night of the

1911 Census The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...

, staying overnight in a sea cave on the nearby

Gower Peninsula Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

. At the NUWT dinner called to celebrate full female suffrage she explained the reason for the action: ''"Many women had determined that since they could not be citizens for the purposes of voting, they would not be citizens for the purpose of helping the government to compile statistics: they would not be included in the Census Returns."'' The woman-teacher-26 September 1919 edited by Emily Phipps

The woman-teacher-26 September 1919 edited by Emily Phipps

Emily Phipps was an active member of the

(NUWT), which was formed as part of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with ...

(NUT) in 1906, following on from the Equal Pay League. (The NUWT became an independent organisation in 1920, and remained in operation until 1961). Emily was elected President for three successive years from 1915 to 1917 and was the first editor of the NUWT journal, Woman Teacher, from 1919 to 1930, later tasked with writing the History of the NUWT (published in 1928). The 1918 general election was the first in which women could both vote in parliamentary elections and stand as candidates, and Emily Phipps was one of the 17 women who took the opportunity to stand, becoming Independent Progressive candidate for Chelsea constituency with the backing of the NUWT. All the women candidates were heavily defeated, but she retained her deposit in a straight contest (with a low turnout) with the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Samuel Hoare.

Later life and death

While still a head-teacher, Emily Phipps studied for the bar in the evenings and was admitted as a barrister in 1925. Following this, she gave up her teaching position and moved from Swansea to London, but although increasing ill health prevented her from practising in the courts for long, she remained as standing counsel to the

. Clara Neal also resigned her own Swansea headship (she was initially head of Terrace Road School followed by Head of Glanmor Girls School from 1922) and moved to London sharing a house with Emily Phipps and former London teacher Adelaide Jones (amongst others) who had helped Phipps with her 1918 election campaign and who was full-time financial secretary to the NUWT from 1918. Phipps had a talent for languages and although not fluent in all she had a working knowledge of French, German, Italian and Welsh. In her spare time she would take part in embroidery, part-singing, reading and gardening. Emily died on 3 May 1943 of complications from a heart condition. In the entry on Emily Phipps in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Hilda Kean Hilda Kean (born August 1949) is a British historian who specialises in public and cultural history, and in particular the cultural history of animals. She is former Dean and Director of Public History at Ruskin College, Oxford, and an Honora ...

describes her versatility, ''"Known for her sparkling personality, wit and strong tongue she inspired a generation of women teachers. Her belief was 'if you make yourself a doormat, do not be surprised if people tread on you."'' In 1990 Phipps was chosen with three others,

Agnes Dawson Agnes Dawson (7 March 1873 – 20 April 1953) was a British politician and trade unionist. Life Dawson was born in Peckham, she became a pupil-teacher in Camberwell before qualifying as a teacher at Saffron Walden Training College. She c ...

Theodora Bonwick Theodora Ellen Bonwick (27 December 1876 – 10 November 1928) was a British headteacher, trade unionist, educationist and suffragette. Life Bonwick was born in Shepherd's Bush in London in 1876. Her family had returned from Australia as Bo ...

and

Ethel Froud Ethel Elizabeth Froud (11 April 1880 – 21 May 1941) was a British trade unionist and feminist born at The Willows, Loose, Maidstone, Kent. She helped create the National Union of Women Teachers as a British feminist autonomous union. Early l ...

, to be featured in

's book, 'Deeds Not Words: The Lives of Suffragette Teachers'.

References

* Rolph, Avril, 'Definitely not a doormat: Emily Phipps, feminist, teacher and trade unionist', in Swansea History Journal / Minerva, No. 22, 2014–15, Swansea,

Royal Institution of South Wales The Royal Institution of South Wales is a Welsh learned society founded by George Grant Francis in Swansea in 1835. Prior to its establishment, the Royal Institution was known as the Swansea Philosophical and Literary Society, which maintained ...

, 2014 *

Kean, Hilda Hilda Kean (born August 1949) is a British historian who specialises in public and cultural history, and in particular the cultural history of animals. She is former Dean and Director of Public History at Ruskin College, Oxford, and an Honora ...

, ''Deeds not Words'', London, Pluto, 1990 * Oram, Alison 'Women teachers and feminist politics, 1900–39', Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1996 * Masson, Ursula, 'Swansea Suffragettes' in Women in Wales: a documentary history of our recent history, Volume 1. Ed Luana Dee and Katell Keineg, Cardiff, Womenwrite Press, 1987 * Wallace, Ryland 'The women's suffrage movement in Wales, 1866–1928', Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2009 * Kean, Hilda, "Phipps, Emily Frost (1865–1943). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press 2004; online edn, Jan 200

Early life and career

Later life and death

References

Notes

Archives