PHILLIPS, MARION

PHILLIPS, MARION (1881–1932), British politician. Born and educated in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of a solicitor, Marion Phillips moved to Britain in 1904, where she received a doctorate at the London School of Economics. She was employed by Sidney and Beatrice Webb as a researcher on the London poor and joined the Fabian Society as well as suffragette and pro-labor organizations. From 1912 she was actively involved in politics, serving as a Labour councillor in London. Phillips was especially concerned with Labour's policies towards women and was the author of a pioneering work, Women and the Labour Party (1918). In 1929 she was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Sunderland, one of the first woman Labour MPs and the first Australian woman to win a seat in any national parliament. She was also the first Jewish woman to serve in the British Parliament. Marion Phillips lost her seat at the 1931 general election and died of stomach cancer at the age of only 50. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online; ADB. (William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)