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 participate in public or diocesan affairs. In 1862 he delivered his last episcopal charge, and made his last triennial diocesan tour. By means of correspondence until his sight failed, and with the help of Dr. Trower, ex-bishop of Gibraltar, he administered his diocese thereafter. He last addressed the House of Lords in July 1863, but was compelled from feebleness to speak sitting. In the same year the death of his wife, who had borne him fourteen children, further depressed him; yet in 1867 Bishop Wilberforce wrote that he ‘is still in full force intellectually.’ His last act was formally to execute the resignation of his see on 9 Sept. 1869, but the resignation did not take effect, for on 18 Sept. 1869 he died at his residence, Bishopstowe, Torquay; he was buried at St. Mary's, Torquay.

Phillpotts was a high churchman of the school which preceded the Oxford movement, and though often ranked on the Anglo-catholic side, he never identified himself with that party, despite his pronounced hostility to its opponents. His charge of 1843 vigorously attacked both Tract No. XC. and Brougham's judgment in the privy council on lay baptism in the case of Escott v. Mastin (, Ecclesiastical Reports, ii. 692). Partisan though Phillpotts often appeared to be, no party could in fact depend upon his support, nor had he the gifts of a party leader, the diplomacy, the discretion, or the attractiveness such as characterised Wilberforce, Tait, or Newman. By nature he was not a teacher; for his disposition was too little sympathetic to make him a guide of younger men, or a moulder of weaker minds. His pugnacity gave him his chief reputation. A born controversialist and a matchless debater, he was master of every polemical art. At the same time he was a genuine student, and was copiously informed on every subject he took up. His mind was formed in an age which thought that a political parson no more discredited his cloth than a political lawyer discredited his profession; but it may be doubted if his controversial heat did not rather injure than aid the cause of that religion which it was employed to defend. Neither in intellectual power and force of will nor in physical courage has he often been surpassed by churchmen of modern times. Greville, hostile as he was, could only compare him with Becket or Gardiner (Memoirs, 1st ser. ii. 287, 2nd ser. i. 120). The charge of excessive nepotism brought against him was ill-justified. He was a strict disciplinarian. His knowledge of ecclesiastical law enabled him effectively to compel his clergy to rubrical strictness, and his diocese stood in need of a strong hand.

His published works consist mainly of very numerous charges, sermons, speeches, and pamphlets. His ‘Canning Letters’ of 1827 went through six editions, and his pamphlets against Charles Butler were reprinted in 1866.

A portrait of Phillpotts, by S. Hodges belongs to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts (cf. Illustrated London News, 25 Sept. 1869).



PHILP, ROBERT KEMP (1819–1882), compiler, born at Falmouth on 14 June 1819, was son of Henry Philp (1793–1836) of Falmouth. His grandfather, Robert Kemp Philp (1769–1850), Wesleyan, afterwards unitarian minister of Falmouth, was one of the earliest supporters of ragged schools and city missions.

On leaving school Philp was placed, in 1835, with a printer at Bristol, and afterwards settled as a newsvendor in Bath, where, for selling a Sunday newspaper, he was fined, and, on refusing to pay, was condemned to the stocks for two hours. He joined the chartist movement, and edited a paper called ‘The Regenerator,’ and, with [q. v.], ‘The National Vindicator,’ a Bath weekly newspaper, which appeared from 1838 to 1842. In 1839 Philp began lecturing as a chartist of moderate opinions. After the riots in Wales (November 1840) he collected evidence for the defence of (d. 1877) [q. v.], and was arrested at Newport, Monmouthshire, on suspicion of complicity, but was released on bail. He was placed on the executive committee of the chartists in 1841. But his counsels were deemed too moderate. In the spring of 1842 he signed the declaration drawn up by [q. v.], and was appointed a delegate to the conference called by Sturge at Birmingham on 27 Dec. 1842. Consequently Philip was, through the influence of the more violent section, led by [q. v.], ousted from the chartist committee. He was a member of