Sir Cyril Henry Philips, December 27 1912 – December 29 2005, born in Worcester and knighted in 1974 was a noted historian and academic director.
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His father had worked as an engine driver on the Indian railways, and Philips in the 1920s spent some years in Bihar
He studied at Liverpool University, then the School of Oriental Studies in London where he wrote a history thesis on the East India Company, later published as "The East India Company: 1784–1834" in 1940 and described as "a rich Namier-like analysis of the various interests in the court of directors as well as a study of its operations"[1].
During the Second World War, he served in the Army Education Corps, ending the war as a lieutenant colonel.
He joined the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and soon became professor and head of the history department.
In 1956 he became director of SOAS, succeeding Sir Ralph Turner, where he "...virtually remade the school..."[2] in the following years.
In 1971 he was appointed vice chancellor of the University of London, where he was involved in controversial reforms, and chaired a royal commission into the police and criminal evidence system, the police complaints board and reviewed the Prevention of Terrorism Act.