Dame Jessie Wilton Phipps (née Duncan; 9 February 1855 – 7 August 1934)[1] was an American-born British politician who served on London County Council.
In 1876, she married William Wilton Phipps, from Wiltshire in England and in 1880 the couple moved to the United Kingdom, settling in London the following year.
[1] There, she struck up a friendship with Maude Lawrence, and this led her to become the manager of several schools in Chelsea.
[2] Phipps was elected to London County Council in 1907, as a Municipal Reform Party member, and in 1913 she became an alderman.
This was inspired by her own failing eyesight, and by 1931 this increasingly poor sight led her to give up her work.