Eliza Phillips

Early life and marriage

Eliza Barron was born in 1823 and baptised 11 July 1823, the only child of George Barron (1763?–1852) and Elizabeth Joanna Barron (1792-1824). Little is known of her early life, though she did meet Samuel Taylor Coleridge while living in Highgate in her youth.

On 11 November 1847 she married the author Robert Montgomery Martin after he had his first marriage dissolved by an Act of Parliament. She was widowed in 1868 and her interest in animal welfare began, inspired by witnessing the sufferings of cattle on a sea voyage. On 16 May 1874 she married the Reverend Edward Phillips (1807–1885). They lived at Culverdon Castle, Tunbridge Wells, where she became the central figure in the local branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Society for the Protection of Birds

After the loss of her second husband in 1885, Mrs Phillips made a central contribution to the history of the protection of bird life in Britain. The focus of these groups was opposition to the use of bird feathers in ladies' fashions and the plumage trade. The founding of the Society for the Protection of Birds specifically brought together an anti-plumage group based in Didsbury, Manchester, run by Emily Williamson and meeting for ‘Fur, Fin and Feather’ afternoons that were held at Mrs Phillips's house in Croydon.

Early publications

In 1890, the society published its first leaflet, entitled Destruction of Ornamental-Plumaged Birds, aimed at saving the egret population by informing wealthy women of the environmental damage wrought by the use of feathers in fashion. A later 1897 publication, Bird Food in Winter, aimed to address the use of berries as winter decoration and encouraged the use of synthetic berries to preserve the birds food source. By 1898 the RSPB had 20,000 members and in 1897 alone had distributed over 16,000 letters and 50,000 leaflets.

Death and legacy

Phillips died on 18 August 1916 at her home in Croydon. She made an important, and often forgotten, contribution to the animal and bird welfare groups of the later nineteenth century.

In 2012 the RSPB had over a million members, including over 195,000 youth members, 18,000 volunteers, 200 nature reserves covering almost 130,000 hectares, home to 80% of our rarest or most threatened bird species. A UK headquarters, three national offices and nine regional offices. A local network of 175 local groups and more than 110 youth groups.