WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Women's Sunday marshal's sash. A scarce demonstration leader's sash from the collection of Mary Phillips, a prominent member of the WSPU. She may have worn it on Women's Sunday, which took place in London on 21 June 1908. Votes for Women lists Phillips as "Group Captain" for Section B of the march, which processed from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park (18 June 1908, p. 244).Phillips (1880-1869) was born in Glasgow and joined her local branch of the WSPU in June 1907. She was committed to militant action, and in March 1908 she was part of a well-publicized raid on the House of Commons, which resulted in a six-week prison sentence. These actions made her a well-known member of the movement by the time of Women's Sunday. In the same month, she became a paid organizer for the WSPU, a role which required her to move around the country setting up new branches, raising money, and selling newspapers.The demonstration of 21 June 1908 was "the largest women's-suffrage demonstration ever seen... Some estimates put the crowd at half a million persons" (Holton, p. 46). Women came from all over the country to participate, many travelling by special trains organized by the WSPU which were filled to overflowing. Other women's rights groups marched with the WSPU, along with deputations of working women. In its write-up of the event, Votes for Women observed that "one of the most remarkable features of the whole demonstration was the unity of the colour scheme". The standard equivalent of Phillip

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