Helen Plummer Phillips

Helen Plummer Phillips^{[note 1]} (1850–1929)^{[note 2][1][2]} was an educator, missionary, and philanthropist. She was the first missionary sent from Australia by the newly formed Church Missionary Association NSW^{[note 3]} (now CMS Australia) in 1892.^[3][4] She was the first tutor for women students at the University of Sydney and formed the University of Sydney Women's Society in 1891 and established its settlement work, mentoring the women students until the Women's College was built and the first principal arrived. Phillips was a principal of St. Catherine's School, Waverley NSW, an advocate for women's full education, and a benefactor of St Luke's Anglican Community Church, Medlow Bath, NSW.^[5][6][7]

Helen Plummer Phillips
Headmistress, St Catherine's School
In office 1884-1890
Missionary, CMS Australia (then Church Missionary Association NSW)
In office 1892-1905
Personal
Born	1850 Devon, England
Died	1929
Religion	Christian
Nationality	English/Australian
Denomination	Anglican (then known as Church of England)
Known for	Education of children and women in Sydney and Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Occupation	Educator and missionary
Organization
Founder of	University of Sydney Women's Society CMS Australia mission and schools in Dodanduwa Sinhalese Women Teachers Vernacular Training School, Colombo

Life and ministry

Early life

Helen Phillips was born on 19 November 1850 to a relatively well-off family in Shaugh Prior, Devon, England and grew up in Lee Moor House.^[8][1][2] She was baptised in the Plymouth circuit Ebenezer Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1850 by James Mowat.^[1] Her father was William Phillips and mother Mary Ann Phillips (née James). Her father owned the Lee Moor Porcelain Clay Company, and the rights to use the Morley Clay works in partnership with his son, John (Helen's older brother).^[9] William died in 1861 when Helen was ten years old, and the occupation of both her mother Mary and older brother John was listed on the census of that year as "China Clay Merchant and Brick Manufacturer employing 89 men".^[8] John Phillips had to sell the company and mining leases after his father's death but went on to establish Aller Vale pottery.^[10]

Phillips graduated from Bedford College, London and became a teacher, a senior assistant mistress at Sheffield Girls' High, England.^[11][6] Her younger brother Richard Henry Phillips emigrated to Australia in 1884 and became Rector of the Anglican parish of Taree NSW then Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle.^[12][13] Helen was invited to be headmistress of St. Catherine's School, Waverley by Bishop Alfred Barry, third bishop of Sydney so she also sailed to Australia later in 1884.^[6]

Educator

St. Catherine’s School, Waverley

 

St Catherine's School, Waverley

From September 1884 to 1890, she was the principal of St. Catherine's School, Waverley.^[6] The school was initially for the daughters of clergy but expanded to accept other girls as pupils. A later archivist of the school described Phillips as: "Affectionately known as ‘Phill’, she was an inspiring headmistress who was well ahead of her time."^[14]

She was known as a strong supporter of education for women, a progressive headmistress, and expanded the curriculum, encouraging the students to undertake public service and university entrance examinations.^[15] In 1884 she donated an art studio, "The Studio", to the school so that future artist Eirene Mort made good use of it when she attended St Catherine's from 1889 to 1897.^[16][15] The studio is now the school's museum.^[11] Later in 1914 Phillips asked Mort to illustrate her memoir.^[15][17] She introduced the school's motto In Christo Thesauri Sapientiae at ScientiaI, "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge".^[11] She fostered her students' interest in the arts bringing in music (Phillips played the pianoforte), drawing and language teachers as well as science teachers such as Fanny Hunt, the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney in 1888.^[18] In 1890, Phillips wrote to a newspaper asking for an afternoon recital of the Halle-Neruda concert rather than the crowded evening concerts so she could take more of her students.^[19]

University of Sydney

In July 1890, she wrote a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald in response to an article written by a man saying that women had not achieved anything great, especially in poetry, drama and music.^[20] In her letter, she mentioned that Phillipa Fawcett had earned the highest marks in mathematics at Cambridge University after gaining a scholarship to Newnham College.^[21] Phillips supported the establishment of the proposed Women's College at Sydney University to similarly support women's education and wrote to both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Bulletin.^[22][23][24] A history of the Women's College states that generally, the Sydney Morning Herald was supportive of the proposed Women's College and reported favourably on the progress of fundraising for it while The Bulletin was generally derisive of the need for a Women's College.^[25]  

In 1890, she was visited by two university professors who asked her to become the first tutor to women students at the University of Sydney.^[17] She made a short visit of a few months in 1891 to England to visit family and old friends at Oxford and Cambridge Universities including "Katie" (Catherine Sharpe Parker who married W.H. Gaskell) who had been a fellow student at Bedford College, and Phillippa Fawcett.^[17] With the Gaskells, Phillips sat at the head table of Newnham College and inquired how the college supported women students at university. She also visited another younger brother, William Inchbold Phillips, Priest in Charge, St John's College Mission (Lady Margaret Church) Walworth^[26][27] where she learned more about the work of the college mission. The mission involved university students in charitable works and educating poorer people in the area in the settlement movement tradition.^[28]

 

Helen Phillip's letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, 1911

From 1891 to 1892, she became the first tutor to women students at Sydney University.^[29] In accepting the offer of this position, she resigned as principal of St Catherine's and postponed her intention to travel to northern India to help a missionary friend, Elizabeth Clay. In most official university sources she is listed as "Tutor to the Women Students–Helen P. Phillips (Bedford College)"^[30] under the Faculty of Medicine while in a few other sources she is described as the first acting principal of Women's College, University of Sydney^[17][31][32] but she was not the first principal who was Louisa Macdonald.^[33] Phillips herself corrected that in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1911.^[34] The statement of duties given to Phillips by the university said that she was to be "a guardian and friend" to the women students.^[35][36] While she was a tutor at the university, Phillips instigated the formation of its Women's Society which helped disadvantaged people in Sydney, visited patients in hospitals and set up night schools particularly focussing on a night school for girls at Millers Point, North Sydney.^[37][17][36] Lady Jersey, the governor's wife, supported her in setting up the society and its committee presidents and vice-presidents were other women of status in Sydney such as Lady Manning (wife of the Chancellor) and Mrs CB Fairfax.^[36][38] Phillips was succeeded as tutor by Jane Foss Russell (later Barff) in 1892.

Educator and missionary

 

Helen Phillips and her students at Dondanduwa

From 1892 to 1905 Phillips spent 13 years in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as a missionary where she founded industrial schools for boys and girls and established the Sinhalese Women Teachers Vernacular Training School in Colombo after she returned from her second furlough in 1904.^[5][6][7] Phillips mostly used her own funds to pay for her travel and the missionary work. In 1897 and 1900 she was described as an "honorary" missionary who bought the land for the first mission compound at Dodanduwa then gave the title deeds to the Church Missionary Society.^[39][17] The Ceylonese government, under British rule, also paid the schools a grant for every student successful in their examinations.^[17] Meanwhile, in Australia, toys, useful articles and funds were collected in Anglican churches to send to "Miss Helen Phillips' Mission Station in Ceylon".^[40]

David Weerasooriya,^{[note 4]} Christian "Chieftain" or "Aratchi"^{[note 5]} of the Buddhist district and village of Dodanduwa and father of Arnolis Weerasooriya, lent her his house for three years until she could build one of her own and the mission compound school.^[17] In the 1903 edition of The Church Missionary Gleaner and in her memoir, Phillips described the boys and girls at the Dodanduwa schools as her godsons and goddaughters.^[41] The subjects taught at the schools such as wood carving, bookbinding, printing, lacemaking, and tailoring were intended to help the children gain employment and pass government teaching or trade examinations so they could earn a living or become teachers in the mission schools.^[17][41] Phillips learned the Sinhalese language and lacemaking so she could be the girls' teacher and taught the boys wood carving until she was able to train local teachers to take over. The girl's lacemaking won a silver medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900.^[17] Phillips said she had to work hard to persuade families to allow their daughters to continue education instead of being married at a young age or kept at home. In her memoir, Phillips describes the wedding of Dorcas, who lived with her as a young girl so she could keep attending school.^[17]

 

Helen Phillips, lacemaking teachers and students

Phillips returned on furlough to Australia in 1898^[39] after spending six months in London in 1897, giving addresses at Cambridge University and elsewhere. At an address she made in St Philips Church, Bethnall Green, the Bishop of London was the chair.^[17] On returning to Australia in 1898 for the next leg of her missionary talks she addressed the Church Missionary Association in Sydney about her work in Ceylon,^[42] visited her brother in Taree,^[43][44] twice giving a missionary talk there,^[45] and exhibited the lacework in Melbourne.^[46][47] In 1904 on her second furlough, she stayed again in Taree^[48] as well as Sydney and spoke in the regional towns of Goulburn^[49] and Wagga Wagga.^[50] In Sydney she addressed the public meeting for the 79th anniversary of the NSW Church Missionary Society, presided over by the Archbishop of Sydney^[51] with Bishop William Ridley speaking on the same platform.^[52][53]

Phillips retired from the mission field in 1905 because of ill health and returned to England, then Australia. In 1911 the old girls of St Catherine's school arranged a tea party welcome home for her at the Queen Victoria Club.^[54]

Anglican church benefactor and retirement

In 1885 Phillips had bought land in Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains of NSW, where she built a holiday house which she kept until 1893. After retiring from missionary work, she bought another house in 1913 in Blackheath but maintained her connections with Ceylon. That same year she re-visited Ceylon and then wrote a memoir of her time there when she returned to Blackheath in 1914.^[17] She had the book illustrated by her former pupil, Eirene Mort, and printed by the boys in the printing workshop at Dodanduwa and dedicated it to Australian schoolgirls. The book was first intended as a textbook for girls thinking of becoming missionaries.^[17][55]

In 1919 there was an exhibition of CMS mission products in the chapter house St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney. Phillips staffed the Ceylon stall displaying the crafts of her old schools at Dodanduwa ^[56]

She attended St Luke's Anglican church at Medlow Bath near Blackheath and became a significant benefactor. Although Anglican, it was also known as an ecumenical and community church.^[5] The small weatherboard church, now privately owned, still has its donated stained glass windows, the southern one donated by Phillips. The motto on the ribbon around the crown reads, "The cross that Jesus carried, He carried as your due. The crown that Jesus weareth, He weareth it for you" and the dedication under reads "A thank offering from H.P.P 1913". She also donated a baptismal font and arranged for other church furniture to be made by the "C.M.S. Industrial School boys, Dodanduwa"; a carved teak wood lectern, prayer desk, carved teak communion rails, and litany desk.^[6] The furniture items were donated to parishioners and other churches on the closure of St Luke's.^[14][5] During the first World War in Blackheath she established the Blackheath Voluntary Aid Detachment.^[57]

Death and legacy

Helen Phillips died at Gordon, Sydney NSW on 25 May 1929, her funeral service was held at St John's Church of England, Gordon and she is buried at Macquarie Park Cemetery, Ryde, NSW (then Northern Suburbs General Cemetery) ^[58][31][59]

The Anglican historian Woolston sums up Phillips legacy as: "...with profound Christian faith she was a leader when women were just beginning to emerge from educational poverty."^[6]

Her legacy was:

• education of girls and women in 19th Century Australia
• entrance of more women students into the University of Sydney from St Catherine's school and through her early support as the first women's tutor
• establishment of the University of Sydney Women's Society and its settlement work
• teacher training for Sinhalese women
• trades and teacher training for Dodanduwa boys and girls
• establishment of a CMS mission in Dodanduwa in Ceylon/Sri Lanka
• furniture and stained glass window for St Luke's Anglican church, Medlow Bath, NSW.

Notes

1. Also known as Helen Phillips, Helen P. Phillips and last name occasionally spelled with a single "l" as Philips. As her author name for her memoir, From Sydney to Delhi... and most sources spell with a double "ll", this entry uses Phillips as the last name.
2. In secondary sources her birth year is sometimes shown as 1851 possibly based on the 1861 Census which estimated her birth year. The official birth registration and baptismal records give 19 November 1850 as her birthdate.
3. Then became known as Church Mission/ary Society, now CMS Australia.
4. Spelled Weerasuria by Phillips and some early sources.
5. Spelled Aratchi by Phillips but otherwise Arachchi

References

1. The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths Surrendered to the Non-Parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class Number: RG 8; Piece Number: 8
2. FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
3. "History". CMS Australia. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
4. "Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography - PHILLIPS, Helen P. (1851-1929)". sites.google.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
5. Isbister, Clair; King, Robert F; Rickwood, Peter C (September 2011). "Over a century of worship at Medlow Bath" (PDF). Blue Mountains History Journal (2): 15–36.
6. Woolston, H. (1999) Helen Plummer Phillips 1851-1929. Headmistress and Missionary. Church of England Historical Society Journal, 44(3, September): 36-40
7. Balding, The Rev J W (1922). One hundred years in Ceylon: the centenary volume of the Church Missionary Society in Ceylon 1818-1919. Madras: The Diocesan Press, Vepery. pp. 57 232.
8. 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Operations Inc, 2005, Class: RG 9; Piece: 1433; Folio: 30; Page: 1; GSU roll: 542812
9. Hemming, George Wirgman. The Law Reports: Equity cases before the Master of the Rolls and the vice-chancellors. United Kingdom, Council of Law Reporting, 1866. pp318-335.
10. "Aller Vale Pottery Allervale pottery | Torquay Pottery Collectors Society". Retrieved 12 June 2022.
11. Galettis, Evangeline [2020] History of St Catherine's School
12. "OBITUARY". Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 23 April 1932. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
13. "Canon Phillips". Northern Champion. 8 March 1924. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
14. Galettis, Evangeline in. Dowden, Emma (ed.). "Proof that CMS products live long!" (PDF). Checkpoint (Summer 2010/2011 calendar edition). Church Missionary Society - Australia Ltd: 14.
15. Lane, Pamela, August 2017, Eirene Mort: Artist, Artisan, and New Woman, a thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy of The Australian National University
16. Galettis, Evangeline (2014). "Extraordinary predecessor Eirene Mort" (PDF). The Bulletin (AUTUMN 2014).
17. Phillips, Helen P. and Mort, Eirene. and Cave & Co.  From Sydney to Delhi with Cook's coupons breaking the journey for a fortnight in Ceylon / by Helen P. Phillips ; illustrated by Messrs. Cave & Co., Colombo and Irene Mort, Sydney  Industrial School Dodanduwa [Sri Lanka]  1914 p63.
18. Pullar, Helen (October 2018). "The Fanny Hunt Collection" (PDF). OGAPRESS: The Newsletter of the Ipswich Girls' Grammar School Old Girls Association (Edition 30).
19. "THE HALLE-NERUDA CONCERTS." Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 21 June 1890: 3. Web. 7 Jun 2022
20. "WOMAN'S COLUMN." The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 12 July 1890: 4. Web. 7 Jun 2022 .
21. "Miss Fawcett." The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) 26 July 1890: 3. Web. 7 Jun 2022
22. "THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE." The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 19 July 1890: 11. Web. 7 Jun 2022
23. "ALL ABOUT WOMEN ." The W.A. Bulletin (Fremantle, WA : 1888 - 1890) 19 July 1890: 7. Web. 7 Jun 2022
24. "THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE". Sydney Morning Herald. 1 August 1889. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
25. Hole, W. V. and Treweeke, Anne H.  The history of the women's college within the University of Sydney / W. Vere Hole and Anne H. Treweeke  [Angus and Robertson] Sydney  1953
26. Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2011. p115
27. The Eagle, 1909 Lent edition, St John's College Cambridge University "The Lady Margaret Mission" p182
28. "History". The Settlement.
29. Bygott, Ursula, "Barff, Jane Foss (1863–1937)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 8 June 2022
30. Moore's Australian almanac and country directory for the year 1892, J. Moore, Sydney viewed 27 May 2022
31. "PERSONAL." The Northern Champion (Taree, NSW : 1913 - 1954) 29 May 1929: 2. Web. 7 Jun 2022
32. "The Bulletin, Vol. 11 No. 559 (1 Nov 1890)". Trove. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
33. "THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE AT SYDNEY". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 23 December 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
34. "MISS PHILLIPS' POSITION". Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 7 April 1911. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
35. University of Sydney. Australia's first: a history of the University of Sydney University of Sydney in association with Hale & Iremonger Sydney 1991
36. Bygott, Ursula M. L. and Cable, K. J. and University of Sydney. Pioneer women graduates of the University of Sydney 1881-1921 / by Ursula Bygott and K.J. Cable University of Sydney Sydney 1985
37. Woolston, H. (1999) "Helen Plummer Phillips 1851-1929, Headmistress and Missionary". Church of England Historical Society Journal, 44(3, September): 36-40
38. "History". The Settlement. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
39. "RELIGIOUS." Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954) 10 April 1897: 11. Web. 6 Jun 2022
40. "RYDE GENERAL NEWS" The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate (Parramatta, NSW : 1888 - 1950) 24 October 1896: 10. Web. 6 Jun 2022 .
41. Church Missionary Society (1903). 1903 The Church Missionary Gleaner.
42. "CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION." The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930) 12 March 1898: 12. Web. 6 Jun 2022
43. "Local and General News". Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 16 March 1898. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
44. "Local and General Hews". Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 30 March 1904. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
45. "Missionary Address". Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales. 3 August 1898. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
46. "CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION". Daily Telegraph. 14 December 1898. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
47. "WEDDINGS". Melbourne Punch. 17 February 1898. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
48. "PERSONAL" The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer (NSW : 1898 - 1954) 7 June 1929: 4. Web. 7 Jun 2022
49. "Missionary Service". Goulburn Evening Penny Post. 26 May 1904. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
50. "Country Items". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 1 June 1904. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
51. "News of the Churches". Australian Town and Country Journal. 23 March 1904. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
52. "Advertising". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 March 1904. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
53. Church Missionary Society (1904). 1904 The Church Missionary Intelligencer.
54. "PUCK'S GIRDLE". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 April 1911. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
55. "BLACKHEATH". Lithgow Mercury. 5 July 1916. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
56. "MISSIONARY WORK AHEAD". Daily Telegraph. 3 September 1919. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
57. "BLACKHEATH". Blue Mountain Echo. 7 March 1919. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
58. "Find a loved one". Northern Cemeteries. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
59. "Family Notices". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 May 1929. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

External links

• Photo of Helen Phillips as headmistress, St Catherine's school in History of St Catherine's School
• Photos of the students and Helen Phillips at Dodanduwa in The Church Missionary Gleaner
• Photos of St Luke's church and the donated items in "Over a century of worship..."
• Contemporaneous reports and records of Phillip's life and ministry:
  • "CENTENARY." The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW: 1894 - 1939) 3 September 1925: 2. Web. 6 Jun 2022
  • The Same Lord: An Account of the Mission Tour of the Rev. George C. Grubb, M.A. in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand from April 3rd, 1891, to July 7th, 1892, p362, United Kingdom, Marlborough, 1893
  • "CLERGY'S DAUGHTERS' SCHOOL, ST. CATHERINE'S WAVERLEY". Daily Telegraph. 26 November 1884. Retrieved 12 June 2022
  • St. Catherine's College". Evening News. 18 December 1884. Retrieved 28 June 2022
  • "General News". Evening News. 20 April 1886. Retrieved 28 June 2022
  • "UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY". Daily Telegraph. 21 October 1890. Retrieved 28 June 2022
  • Calendar. Australia, University of Sydney, 1892
  • Votes & Proceedings. Australia, New South Wales Parliament, Legislative Council, 1892
  • "CHURCH NEWS." The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 3 April 1897: 10. Web. 6 Jun 2022
  • Bishop CJ Corfe, Morning Calm v.3 no.28 (1892 Oct.), Griffith & Farran, London, s134
  • The Jubilee Festival of the Australian Board of Missions, 1850-1900 : the commemoration in Sydney : illustrated handbook and programme of services and meetings, August 19th to August 26th inclusive, W. A. Pepperday & Co. 1900
  • "MEDLOW BATH". Lithgow Mercury. 1 January 1913. Retrieved 12 June 2022.