Caroline Phillips: Aberdeen Suffragette and Journalist
2018 marks 100 years of (some) women getting the vote
We are exceptionally lucky in Aberdeen to possess a unique collection of suffragette correspondence. Caroline Phillips (1874-1956) was a woman journalist at the conservative Aberdeen Daily Journal at the turn of the 20th century. She was also the honorary secretary of the Aberdeen branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the suffragette association led by the Pankhursts.
Caroline led the Aberdeen suffragettes from 1907 to 1909 and the collection includes many letters to and from leading suffragettes such as Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. These letters make arrangements for the visits of WSPU leaders to Aberdeen and the surrounding area and also include invitations for Caroline to become involved in WSPU events in Edinburgh and London.
North-East Scotland was particularly important for the suffragettes since leading members of the Liberal Government held seats in the area. For example, the Chancellor Asquith was in East Fife, and a young Winston Churchill in Dundee.
The letters show that Caroline Phillips was attempting to reconcile conflicting demands from the Pankhursts, her employer and leading figures from the Women’s Liberal Association in the city. While the Pankhursts demanded more and more militant action, Caroline’s employer at the newspaper threatened to sack her if she did not give up her involvement in the campaign for women’s suffrage. Despite his threats, Caroline used the Journal offices as her headquarters, used the newspaper’s telegraph address for WSPU business and wrote many drafts of her letters on Journal stationery!
In December 1907 Asquith paid a visit to Aberdeen to speak at a meeting at the Music Hall. Local Liberal party members were so worried about potential suffragette disruption that it was suggested that ALL women should be banned from the Music Hall. This was particularly upsetting for the ladies of the city’s Women’s Liberal Association, most of whom were keen campaigners for women’s suffrage but unhappy about the suffragettes’ militancy. Caroline offered a deal, suggesting that she could guarantee the Aberdeen suffragettes would leave Mr Asquith alone so that women could attend the meeting. She assured the Liberal ladies that while she was ‘not speaking with complete authority’, she thought that an independent Aberdeen WSPU must be allowed to use its own judgement on when action was required.
Unfortunately, Mrs Pankhurst did not agree with Caroline’s plan and arrived in Aberdeen herself to take charge of the disruption of the Music Hall meeting. Newspapers the next day reported on the ‘riot’ that broke out in the orchestra pit and spread to other areas of the Hall before the suffragettes and their supporters were evicted.
Caroline’s lack of enthusiasm for militancy was not popular at London headquarters, and later letters in the collection demonstrate an increasing distrust of her leadership of the Aberdeen branch. In August 1908 she lost a great supporter in the Scottish WSPU when her friend Helen Fraser was removed from her position as leader of the Scottish WSPU – because of criticisms of the new policy of smashing windows. On 5 January 1909, Caroline was also dismissed via a brutal telegram from Christabel Pankhurst that merely told her that Sylvia Pankhurst was travelling north to take over leadership of the branch and that she should cancel all meetings. After this, the Aberdeen branch of the WSPU was run by women sent up from England or the Central belt, who had fewer local loyalties. Never again was the Aberdeen WSPU to be run by an Aberdonian.
Visit Aberdeen Maritime Museum to see a small display of material relating to Caroline Phillips.
This is part of a collection of documents relating to Phillips, which contains important correspondence between Phillips and key leaders in the suffrage movement, including Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. You can see more on our website at www.aagm.co.uk
The inaugural Rise Up Quines! festival will take place at various venues across Aberdeen from 12-18 Â November. Â
The festival marks the centenary of (some) women winning the right to vote. It will seek to celebrate women in politics and leadership, past, present and future. Â Including a range of events such as panel discussions, films, exhibitions and performances, the festival aims to inspire women and girls to become politically engaged and lay the foundations for them to become future activists and leaders.
Blog by Sarah Pedersen
Sarah is Professor of Communication and Media at RGU. The focus of her research is women’s engagement with the media, both contemporary (blogging, Twitter, Mumsnet) and historical (women and Edwardian newspapers, the suffragettes, women in the First World War).Â
