Mabel Philipson
Mabel Philipson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed | |
| In office 31 May 1923 – 29 May 1929 | |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Hilton Philipson |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Todd |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mabel Russell 1 January 1887 |
| Died | 8 January 1951 (aged 64) |
| Political party | Conservative |
Mabel Philipson (née Russell; 1 January 1887 – 8 January 1951) was a British actress and politician. She was the fourth female member to be elected to – and third to serve in – the House of Commons after this became legally possible in 1918, as Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick-upon-Tweed.[1]
Biography
Early life
She was born on 1 January 1887.
Career
She became a successful music hall and comedy actress and a Gaiety Girl.
On 21 November 1918 the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918, introduced a few weeks previously by Lord Robert Cecil was given Royal Assent, making women eligible as Members of Parliament. Hilton Philipson, her husband, was unseated on petition in 1923, due to a fraud involving his agent. Mabel Philipson won the by-election to follow him, while standing as a Conservative. It was said that she made no secret that she intended to hold the seat until her husband's return;[2] however when her husband's business hit financial difficulties in 1928 she announced her retirement as "the reason why I have held the seat has ceased to exist".[3]
She returned to the stage after leaving Parliament, appearing as Mrs Tilling in Other People's Lives at Wyndham's Theatre in 1929.[4]
Personal life
In February 1911 she married Thomas Stanley Rhodes (1890–1911) the son of Henry Rhodes a cotton manufacturer. Later that year, on 16 August, she and her husband were in a car crash at Brooklands motor racing circuit. He died of his injuries, and Mabel was severely injured.[5]
In 1917 she married Hilton Philipson, a business owner and National Liberal politician; they had three children. She died on 8 January 1951.
Selected filmography
- Tilly of Bloomsbury (1931)
References
- John Sleight, Women on the March (1986)
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ^ http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06652#fullreport
- ^ Pamela Brookes, "Women at Westminster", Peter Davies, London, 1967, p. 37-8.
- ^ Daily Telegraph, 20 November 1928, cited in Pamela Brookes, "Women at Westminster", Peter Davies, London, 1967, p. 67.
- ^ Pamela Brookes, "Women at Westminster", Peter Davies, London, 1967, p. 67.
- ^ "Stanley Rhodes Dies" (PDF). New York Times. 17 August 1911. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
External links
| International | |
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| National | |
