Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (née Watkins; 15 April 1804 – 4 January 1889) was a British writer on art and fashion.

Her father, Sir Charles Watkins, was a barrister who specialised in transferring property ownership.

Her husband worked as a barrister and she undertook the translation of a book on painting by the 15th-century artist Cennino Cennini.

[4] In 1854, she chose a different subject and published Dress as a Fine Art, which supported the more practical improvements of Amelia Bloomer.

[3] Her son, Frederick, was later Chair of Brighton School of Art, while one of granddaughters Margaret Verrall became a classical scholar, and another, Flora Merrifield, was a campaigner for women's suffrage in Sussex.