Sir George Philips, 1st Baronet

Sir George Philips, 1st Baronet (24 March 1766 – 3 October 1847),[1] later Sir George Philips MP.

Biography

Philips came from an old Staffordshire family that had held manors there since the reign of Edward VI of England, and were seated at Heath House in the same county since the early seventeenth century, that continued to be lived in by his cousins. George's father, Thomas Philips (1728–1811) of Sedgley, Lancashire, established a cotton manufacturing company in Manchester.

George was brought up in the dissenting tradition. Towards the end of the eighteenth century he joined forces with Samuel Boddington and "Conversation" Sharp (alias Richard Sharp (politician)) to form the West India company of 'Boddington, Sharp and Philips' which was based at 15 Mark Lane, London.[2] As his wealth grew (Sydney Smith teasingly nicknamed him 'King Cotton'), Philips quit the family home in Manchester, Sedgley Hall, and built a new home, Weston House in Warwickshire (now demolished). This was very much in the style of Holland House which, when Sharp first saw it, declared it to be "more like a University" than a private residence! He also kept a handsome house in London in Grafton Street.

As fellow Dissenters, the three partners shared many common interests. Philips enjoyed writing poetry and he was especially pleased with his Epistle from Windemere to Richd. Sharp Esq., which was proudly shown to such friends as James Mackintosh, Samuel Rogers, and William Wordsworth. Boddington and Philips followed Sharp's example by becoming dissenting Whig Members of Parliament and in time Philips gained a reputation for his fine oratory, speaking in the House on several occasions in opposition to regulating child labour in the cotton mills.

In Parliament he sat as a Whig and represented Ilchester 1812, Steyning 1818-1820, Wootton Bassett 1820-30. Philips was an MP for Warwickshire South following the Reform Act until 1835. He was closely associated with Manchesterism and has been described as the "unofficial member for Manchester", despite not formally representing that city.[3]

He is pictured in a commemorative painting by Sir George Hayter of the 1833 parliament.[4]

See also

References

  1. "Baronetcies beginning with "P", part2". Leigh Rayment's Baronetage pages. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  2. for further information see Knapman, D. - 'Conversation Sharp - The Biography of a London Gentleman, Richard Sharp (1759–1835), in Letters, Prose and Verse'. (Private Publication, 2004)
  3. Wadsworth, Alfred P.; Mann, Julia De Lacy (1965) [1931]. The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780. Manchester University Press. p. 289.
  4. The House of Commons in 1833, Sir George Hayter, National Portrait Gallery, accessed 9 January 2009

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Michael Angelo Taylor
Member of Parliament for Ilchester
1812–1818
With: Richard Sharp
Succeeded by
Sir Isaac Coffin
John William Drage Merest
Preceded by
James Martin Lloyd
Sir John Aubrey
Member of Parliament for Steyning
1818–1820
With: Sir John Aubrey
Succeeded by
George Richard Philips
Lord Henry Howard-Molyneux-Howard
Preceded by
William Taylor Money
Richard Ellison
Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett
1820–1830
With: Horace Twiss
Succeeded by
Viscount Mahon
Thomas Hyde Villiers
New constituency Member of Parliament for South Warwickshire
18321835
With: Sir Grey Skipwith
Succeeded by
Sir John Mordaunt
Edward Sheldon
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Weston, Warwickshire)
1828–1847
Succeeded by
George Richard Philips