{{Short description|British educationist, founder of UK's first Soroptimist movement}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Use British English|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Eleanor Addison Phillips | image = Eleanor Addison Phillips 1919.jpg | caption = Phillips in 1919 | office = Headmistress of Clifton High School | term_start = 1908 | term_end = 1933 | predecessor = Catherine Burns | successor = D. Nonita Glenday | known_for = Founder and first president of first UK Soroptimist club | birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|12|2|df=y}} | birth_place = Paddington, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|06|25|1874|12|2|df=y}} | death_place = Kensington, London, England | alma_mater = St Hugh's College, Oxford | parents = {{plainlist| * Francis Phillips * Mary Addison }} }} '''Eleanor Addison Phillips''' (2 December 1874 – 25 June 1952) was an English educationist and founder of the first UK Soroptimist movement, the Venture Club. She was also headmistress of Clifton High School in Bristol.
==Early life and career==
thumb|left | Phillips as a young girl Eleanor Addison Phillips was born on 2 December 1874, in Paddington, London, to Francis Phillips (1838–1925) and Mary Addison (1843–1906). She was the third child to a family of nine. She was born into a wealthy family; according to the 1881 census, the family had five servants.
She attended Maida Vale High School and then went to St Mary's College, Paddington (today Imperial College School of Medicine) to qualify as a teacher, later becoming a lecturer and head of the training department.<ref name=StHObit>Eleanor Addison Phillips: Obituary in {{Cite web |title=St Hugh's College, Oxford - Chronicle 1953-1954, published via Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/sthughscollegeoxford/docs/chronicle_1953-1954 |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=issuu.com |date=6 October 2015 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=SIGBI/>
In 1905, aged 30, she went to St Hugh's College, Oxford to study modern history; her teachers included Ernest Barker, A.L. Smith, and H.W.C. Davis.<ref name=StHObit/>
== Headmistress at Clifton High School== In 1908, while Phillips was at Oxford, on suggestion by Eleanor Jourdain, Phillips applied for the headmistress position at Clifton High School, which she received, holding the position until 1933.<ref name=StHObit/> She took over as headmistress in September 1908. She initially resided at 1 Clifton Park Road until the beginning of the 1920s, when it was sold to fund construction of a new school wing. She also purchased the houses on the school green and rented 1 Cecil Road as a boarding house. In 1929, after renovations to the main hall, the play ''Henry VIII'' was performed on the inaugurating night.<ref name=Glenday/>
During her time as headmistress, Clifton High School was expanded, student numbers doubled, and over 60% of students got accepted at universities. In 1910, she organised the school's first Christmas concert, with Hubert Hunt, a tradition continued today.<ref name=Glenday/> In 1925, she helped found an 'old girls' (Clifton High School alumni) branch in London.<ref name=Glenday/> She left in 1933. Her impact on the school led to the creation of the Eleanor Addison Phillips prize.<ref>Clifton High School, [https://www.cliftonhigh.co.uk/ Awards]. Retrieved: 3 August 2023.</ref><ref name=Glenday>{{cite book |last1=Glenday |first1=Nonita |title=Clifton High School 1877-1977 |date=1976 |publisher=Taylor Brothers Bristol Limited |location=Bristol}}</ref> Upon leaving, she appointed Ms Dorothea Nonita Glenday as her successor.<ref name=Glenday/>
From 1929 to 1931, she was president of the Association of Head Mistresses.<ref name=StHObit/><ref name=Glenday/>
===Gallery=== <gallery mode="packed" heights="150"> File:CHS Staff 1913.jpg | CHS staff in 1913; Ms Phillips in centre File:Eleanor Addison Phillips and students.jpg|Phillips and CHS students </gallery>
==Soroptimist movement== Phillips played a key part in the development of the UK Soroptimist movement, being the founder and first president of the first club, the Venture Club.<ref name=SIGBI>Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland, [https://sigbi.org/soroptimistcentenary2021/files/99.-EleanorAddisonPhillips.pdf ''Miss Eleanor Addison Phillips, MA (1874-1952)'']. Retrieved: 3 August 2023.</ref> This was founded on 10 May 1920 at Bristol's Royal Hotel, located at College Green<ref name=SIGBI/> (today the Marriott Royal Hotel), and Phillips was unanimously elected president. In 1928, the first Venture Club and six other Venture Clubs united to form the Association of Venture Clubs. Two years later, after Soroptimist International heard of the Venture Club, and their shared goals, they merged, and Phillips was elected as Vice President of Britain's national Union of Soroptimists, a position she held until 1933. She was also a key member of the Soroptimist council board.<ref name=SIGBI/>
In June 1933, at the National Union Conference of the Soroptimists in Bristol, and on her retirement, Phillips was appointed an Honorary Member of all Soroptimist Clubs “in recognition of her outstanding services”. She is the only Soroptimist member to date to achieve this title. In July 1933, the Soroptimist branch of Bristol gave Phillips a pendant bearing the initials ‘V’ and ‘S’. She was also given jewels spelling out the name ‘Soroptimist’, by the first letter of the jewels: Sapphire, Opal, Ruby, Onyx, Pearl, Tourmaline, Iolites, Moonstone, Iolites, Sapphire and Topaz. She gave the pendant back, and it is worn by the Immediate Past President of the Soroptimist movement in Bristol.<ref name=SIGBI/>
thumb|right | Eleanor Addison Phillips Plaque To honour her work and dedication to the Soroptimist Movement, and the Venture Club, a plaque was unveiled on 10 May 2020, 100 years since the founding of the Venture club, by the President of the Soroptimist International branch in Bristol. The plaque is located at Clifton High School.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Demery |first=David |date=2021-07-05 |title=A visionary headmistress is honoured |url=https://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/a-visionary-headmistress-is-honoured/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Bristol Civic Society |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Later life, death== After Phillips's retirement in 1933, she remained in Bristol until 1941, before moving to Oxford until 1945.<ref name=Glenday/> She then lived with her sisters in London, until her death in 1952. She never married and had no children, but was an aunt; her brother (Francis Addison Phillips (1872-1902)) had a son, Francis Hugh Addison Phillips (1901-1980), who married Barbara Holmes (daughter of civil servant Maurice Gerald Holmes) in 1946.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://gw.geneanet.org/paddyberry?lang=en&n=phillips&oc=0&p=francis+hugh+addison | title=Family tree of Francis Hugh Addison Phillips }}</ref> Phillips died on 25 June 1952, and was buried in Kensington, London.<ref name=Glenday/>
A photographic portrait of Phillips by James Lafayette is held in the National Portrait Gallery, London.<ref name="NPG">{{cite web |title=Eleanor Addison Phillips (1874-1952), Headmistress, Clifton High School, Bristol |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp97840/eleanor-addison-phillips |website=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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Category:1874 births Category:1952 deaths Category:20th-century English educators Category:20th-century British women educators Category:Educators from London Category:20th-century women educational theorists Category:20th-century educational theorists Category:Members of Soroptimist International