Mabel Russell (1887-1951)
English actress and singer
(photo: Dover Street Studios, London, circa 1908)
The tragic end of Mabel Russell’s first marriage, Maidenhead, England, 1911; and she is elected a Member of Parliament, 1923
‘Mrs. Stanley Rhodes, formerly Mabel Russell favorite of [G]aiety theater goers, London, was badly injured in an automobile collision at Maidenhead, England. Her husband, who was driving the car, was killed. He was only 21 and a nephew of the late Cecil Rhodes. They had been married but three months.’
(New Castle News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, 13 September 1911, p.6c. The actress Mabel Green, a passenger on that occasion in the Rhodes’s car, was also injured.)
‘Who’s Who in the Day’s News.
‘Mrs. Hilton Philipson
‘The membership of the England’s historic house of commons now includes a former chorus girl. The recent election of Mrs. Hilton Philipson brought this about. Mrs. Philipson, known on the stage as Mabel Russell, worked her way from chorus girl to stardom before quitting the footlights to wed Philipson in June, 1917.
‘She is the third member of her sex to enter the British house. Lady Astor and Mrs. Margaret Wintringham are the others who preceded her. Mrs. Philipson is a conservative and won her seat from Berwick-on-Tweed as such, defeating her liberal and labor opponents by a majority of over 6,000. She succeeds her husband, who was elected by the same constituency last November but who was disqualified because of alleged illegal acts on the part of his election agent. It is an odd coincidence that all three of the women house members succeeded their husbands.
‘Mrs. Philipson has been married twice. Her first husband was Stanley Rhodes a cotton magnate. He was killed in an auto accident in 1911 and following his death she took up [i.e. resumed] a stage career. She is now thirty-six and the mother of three children.’
(The Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, Saturday, 9 June 1923, p.4)
Footlight Notes 