Phillis Emily Cunnington (1 November 1887 – 24 October 1974) was an English medical doctor and collector, writer and historian on costume and fashion. She and her husband Cecil Willett Cunnington (1878–1961) worked together not only in their medical practice but also on their collection and writing. In 1947, the Cunningtons' extensive costume collection was acquired by the

Manchester City Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupi ...

and the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall was opened."Dr. C. Willett Cunnington." Times ondon, England24 January 1961: 14. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014.

Early life

She was born as Phillis Emily Webb in 1887 in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in India, the oldest of four children born to Isabel Mary ''née'' Aldis (1864–1952) and William Trego Webb (1847–1934), an author formerly of the Bengal Education Department who collaborated with F. J. Rowe to produce a number of English grammar books for Indian students. Her youngest brother was Captain Noel William Ward Webb (1896–1917), a British World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

credited with fourteen aerial victories. He was the first pilot to use the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

to claim an enemy aircraft. He also claimed the life of German ace ''Leutnant'' Otto Brauneck for his ninth victory. Another brother was Lieutenant Paul Frederic Hobson Webb (1889–1918), who was killed in action on 7 July 1918 while serving in No. 27 Squadron RAF.

Medicine and collecting

In 1911, Webb was a medical student at the

London School of Medicine for Women The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supp ...

and in 1916 a Licentiate of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

, qualifying as a doctor in 1918 and becoming a Member of the

(MRCP). For a period she was Clinical Assistant in the Eye Department of the Royal Northern Hospital, later being the Medical Officer in charge of the Infant Welfare Centre in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

in northwest London. In 1918, Phillis Webb married Cecil Willett Cunnington who was also a qualified doctor and who had served as a Captain in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. For a number of years the couple had a joint practice from their home Tatchley House on Dollis Avenue in

. The two collected clothes and they soon had to build a large shed in the garden to house them all. By the end of the 1930s they had about a thousand costumes, some of which they loaned out for some of the first British television transmissions. Costume Museum from Plattfields Park

The Cunningtons collaborated on various books including ''A History of Underclothes'', one of only a few studies on the subject at that time. In 1945 the collection was offered for sale for £7,000 with the hope that a single benefactor would keep it together.OUR MUSEUMS CORRESPONDENT. "Englishwomen's Dress." Times ondon, England10 October 1945: 6. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014. The collection was said to contain over 900 dresses, 650 hats or bonnets, 550 items of underclothing, 100 pairs of shoes, 90 shawls, 100 parasols and 350 examples of ribbons. The collection also included 1,200 bound and 2,600 unbound publications and 15,000 photographs."English Costumes." Times ondon, England12 June 1946: 3. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014. In 1945, Lawrence Haward, the Curator of the

, launched a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of the Cunnigtons' extensive collection. In 1947 their collection of costumes was finally acquired and the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall was opened. Cecil Cunnington served as an Honorary Advisor to the collection. Having moved to

West Mersea West Mersea is a town and electoral ward in Essex, England. It is the larger (in terms of population) of two settlements on Mersea Island, south of Colchester. History Roman buildings and tesselated pavements close to the quayside have l ...

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the couple began a series of five handbooks that covered the history of English dress which they completed by 1959. After the death of her husband in 1961 Phillis Cunnington continued to write books on the history of costume, both alone and in collaboration with others. Phillis Emily Cunnington died in

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Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in 1974 aged 86.Phillis Emily Cunnington in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 - Ancestry.com
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Selected publications

*Cunnington, C. W., & Cunnington, P. (1951) ''The History of Underclothes'', Courier Dover Publications. *Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Cunnington. (1952) ''Handbook of English Mediaeval Costume'', London: Faber and Faber. *Cunnington, Cecil Willet, and Phillis Cunnington. (1963) ''Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century'', London: Faber. *Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Cunnington. (1966) ''Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century'' Faber & Faber. *Cunnington, Phillis Emily, and Lucas, Catherine. (1967) ''Occupational Costume in England : from the Eleventh Century to 1914'', Adam & Charles Black *Cunnington, Phillis Emily, and Lucas, Catherine. ''Charity Costumes'', Bloomsbury Publishing *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1969) ''Costume in Pictures'', Universe Books *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1969) ''English Costume for Sports and Outdoor Recreation from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries'', A. and C. Black *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1970) ''Costumes of the 17th and 18th Century'', Plays, Inc. *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1970) ''Costumes of the Nineteenth Century'', Plays, Inc. *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1972) ''Costume for Births, Marriages & Deaths'', Barnes & Noble *Cunnington, Phillis Emily, and Mansfield, Alan. (1973) ''Handbook of English Costume in the Twentieth Century, 1900-1950'', Plays, Inc. *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1974) ''Costume of Household Servants, from the Middle Ages to 1900'', A and C Black *Cunnington, Phillis Emily. (1978) ''Charity Costumes of Children, Scholars, Almsfolk, Pensioners'', A. and C. Black *Cunnington, Phillis Emily, and Buck, Anne. (1978) ''Children's Costume in England'', Adam & Charles Black

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunnington, Phillis Emily 1887 births 1974 deaths English historians English writers People from Finchley Medical doctors from Kolkata British people in colonial India 20th-century English women medical doctors 20th-century English medical doctors 20th-century English people 20th-century English women writers