Phyllis Brown was Chester's first woman mayor, served as Chairman of the Board of Governors for the school and was one of its most generous benefactors.
Louisa Phyllis Brown (Humfrey) was a pupil from 1890 to 1895 and retained a life-long connection with and affection for Queen’s.
She was both a life-long friend of the school and its greatest benefactor. She was a member of the Old Girls' Association for over 70 years; she served on the Board of Governors from 1917 to 1950; and from 1933 she was its Chairman. At the time of her death our school magazine “Have Mynde” wrote that she “directed our affairs with vision and foresight both during the difficult days of the war and in the years of expansion that followed. To her generosity we owe our playing-fields, the rose-garden at the main school, our junior school buildings at Nedham House, and three houses in Stanley Place where our preparatory department is located. Her beneficence and wisdom touched the life of our school in its every aspect, and left it so permanently enriched that the Governors are confident that all our friends will wish to be associated with the Memorial to be raised in her honour.”
Mrs Brown was a well-known Chester philanthropist who was Chester’s first woman mayor (1938/39).
She and other members of her family are gratefully recognised as the 20th century’s most generous benefactors.