Mabel Philipson was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actress and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. She was the third female member to serve in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 after this became legally possible in 1918, representing Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed (UK Parliament constituency)

Berwick-upon-Tweed is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

.

Born Mabel Russell, she became a successful music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 and comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 actress. Widowed by 1911, in 1917 she married Hilton Philipson

Hilton Philipson

Hilton Philipson was a politician in the United Kingdom.Standing as a National Liberal Party candidate, he was elected at the 1922 general election as Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed, but the election was overturned on petition. At the resulting by-election, his wife Mabel stood as...

, a business owner and National Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician; they had three children.

On 21 November 1918 the Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act

Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act 1918

The Parliament 1918 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as an MP. This meant that women could stand for elections before actually being legally allowed to vote themselves. The Parliament (Qualification of Women Act) 1918 is an Act...

, introduced a few weeks previously by Lord Robert Cecil was given Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

, making women eligible as Members of Parliament.

Hilton Philipson was unseated on petition in 1923, due to a fraud involving his agent. Mabel Philipson won the by-election

Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election, 1923

The Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election of 31 May 1923 was a by-election to the British House of Commons which saw Mabel Philipson become the third woman to take her seat in Parliament. The election was caused when her husband, Hilton Philipson, was deprived of his seat due to corruption by his election...

 to follow him, while standing as a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

. It was said that she made no secret that she intended to hold the seat until her husband's return; however when her husband's business hit financial difficulties in 1928 she announced her retirement as "the reason why I have held the seat has ceased to exist".

She returned to the stage after leaving Parliament, appearing as Mrs Tilling in Other People's Lives at the Wyndham Theatre in 1929.