Ethel Margaret Phillips

Ethel Margaret Phillips (1876–1951) was a British medical missionary who worked in China for approximately 43 years. Before becoming a medical missionary, Phillips gained admittance into the Victoria University of Manchester and subsequently became the third woman to graduate with a degree in medicine from the University. Upon graduating, Phillips was sent to China as a medical missionary by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG). In China, Phillips faced some difficulty with the local population, as they did not trust foreigners after the political turmoil that had taken place recently before Phillips' arrival. Her accomplishments in China include the construction of two hospitals, work with the YWCA, and the establishment of a private practice. Phillips was interned in China during the Second World War. Phillips returned to the UK in 1948 and died three years later.

Early life Ethel Margaret Phillips was born in England in 1876 and had a difficult childhood as the second of four children. When she was an infant, her father who had trained as an engineer but contracted tuberculosis, took up a business in mineral water production in Bridgnorth but left his wife and children at their original home. When she was about four years old, her mother left the family, taking Phillips’ youngest brother, Herbert, with her. It was decided that all the other children would leave Bridgnorth, a small town in England, to live with their grandmother. Phillips began earning her living from the age of fifteen through teaching at Rushmore College, a private school located in Kidderminster, Shropshire. She took on various teaching jobs for the next few years, while also continuing her own studies. Phillips passed the Cambridge examination and then became an Associate of the Royal College of Preceptors. Phillips arrived in China after the Boxer Rebellion but still experienced the aftereffects. People were not keen on Western practices in religion or medicine, so Phillips' patients might not adhere to her treatment recommendations. She also noted that people would seek advice from additional doctors if one did not provide an immediate cure. Phillips was consistently concerned with the betterment of women and children throughout her work in China. While working with the YWCA, Phillips wanted to create mother's clubs. Peking's YWCA successfully established a mother's club for women coming from lower income families. At the same time, Phillips pushed the creation of a Home Training School in which students would learn care for the sick, cleanliness, and a number of other simple tasks. Phillips was very firm in her beliefs of serving others.

Late life Phillips had little impact from the political turmoil that was taking place in China until World War II began. As World War II started, she was running a tuberculosis sanatorium that was growing quickly. This was closed when the Japanese began their occupation of Peking. Along with the sanatorium, the Anglican Mission Girls' School where Phillips was doing health inspections was closed. On 7 December 1941, Phillips was declared by the Japanese to be an enemy alien because of her British ties. She was subsequently put under house arrest for a short while. Not long after being released, Phillips was ordered to evacuate Peking and was taken to the Weixian Internment Compound in Shandong Province. She remained there until the people in the camp were freed at the end of World War II on 17 August 1945.

Phillips was reunited with her son Clifford after her release, and became a grandmother in 1946. Feeling that it was impractical to recover her private medical practice, she took a position with Radio Peking, broadcasting a half-hour program three times each week. With the Chinese Civil War looming overhead, Clifford convinced his mother that it was time to leave China and, after 43 years, Phillips left China to live with her brother in Bridgwater, UK in 1948. She suffered after effects from the Weixian Internment Camp and died of congestive heart failure on 17 May 1951.