Egerton Grenville Bagot Phillimore (20 December 1856 – 5 June 1937) was a British antiquarian of Welsh literature,

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

, and history. He published little but was widely regarded as the greatest living expert on Welsh placenames.

Early life

Phillimore was born at 21 Chester Square, in Belgravia, London, on 20 December 1856, the only son of

John George Phillimore John George Phillimore (1808–1865) was an English barrister, known as a jurist and Liberal Party politician. Life The eldest son of Joseph Phillimore, he was born on 5 January 1808, and was educated at Westminster School. On 28 May 1824 he m ...

and Rosalind Margaret, ''née'' Knight-Bruce. Orphaned on the death of his mother in 1871, he was taken into the care of his uncle Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore. He went to Westminster Boys' School in London. He took his BA from Christ Church, Oxford in 1879 and an MA in 1883. He was admitted as a lawyer to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1877.

Career

While at Oxford, Phillimore met John Rhys, Whitley Stokes and others who stimulated his interest in Welsh culture. He learned the language and collected Welsh books and manuscripts. Phillimore developed his interest in the Welsh language producing articles for ''

Bye-gones ''Bye-gones'' was a 19th-century quarterly antiquarian journal which covered Wales and the border counties. It was first published in the 1871, by Woodall, Minshall and Company of Oswestry. John Askew Roberts (1826-1884) (who had previously serve ...

'', ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'' and ''y Cymmroder'', widely referenced as providing guidance on the meanings of words and names. From 1903 he lived at Corris in

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the na ...

. He wrote an article on bawdy Welsh words for a German periodical, ''Kryptadia'', published in 1884. Phillimore's papers, including some poetry of his own composition as well as translations of works in Welsh, Latin, French, German and Greek, are kept at the National Library of Wales.

Family

Phillimore married Susan Elsie Roscow in 1880 with whom he had one son and three daughters. Susan Roscow died in 1893, and Phillimore subsequently married Marion Owen in 1897. He kept his marriage to Owen a secret from many people, including his own children by Roscow. Marion Owen died in 1904.

Early life

Career

Family

References

Secondary sources

Further reading