WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Hunger strike medal of Mary Phillips, together with the letter of transmission from the WSPU committee. A medal presented to the suffragette Mary Phillips to commemorate her hunger strike of July 1909, with the original box and presentation letter. Phillips was one of the key paid organizers of the WSPU from June 1908 to 1913. Her commitment to militant action resulted in a total of four prison sentences; she was incarcerated for the longest total time of any suffragette.Phillips (1880-1969) was born in Glasgow and joined the suffrage campaign with the encouragement of her parents. She was a firm believer in the importance of militant action and was arrested twice in 1908, the second time for three months. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence anticipated her release in Votes for Women, writing that Phillips would receive "the more than royal welcome which our hearts accord to friends so loyal, so brave, and so true" (10 September 1908, p. 43). In the event, she was met with Gaelic music, suffragettes attired in tartan, and Scottish flowers.In July 1909, Phillips, along with two other suffragettes, was arrested for disrupting a political meeting in Exeter. The three women went on hunger strike and Phillips was released early on medical grounds; Votes for Women commented that "once again the forces of coercion have been defeated by the quiet courage and determination of a woman" (6 Aug. 1909, p. 1041). In September, the organizing committee of the WSPU sent Phillips her medal. Mabel Tuke,

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