George Phillips (11 January 1804 – 5 February 1892), was an English churchman and academic, known as an orientalist and mathematician. He was also the Rector of Sandon, Essex, the President of

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

, from 1857 until his death and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1861 to 1862.

Early life and education

Born in Dunwich, Suffolk, he was the son of Francis Phillips, a farmer. After spending his early years in farm work, and acquiring a knowledge of mathematics in his spare time, Phillips became a master at the grammar school in

Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and around north-east of London. In 2011 it had a populat ...

, and later at that in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

. While at Worcester he published his first works, ''A Brief Treatise on the Use of a Case of Instruments'' (1823) and ''A Compendium of Algebra'' (1824). In 1824 Phillips left Worcester in order to enter

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

, but after a short residence migrated to

, in October 1825. He won a scholarship in 1827 and graduated BA in 1829 with a first in mathematics.

Career

In 1830 he was elected fellow of his college and subsequently became senior tutor. He was ordained deacon in 1831 and priest in 1832. On the death of Joshua King in 1852, he was elected president of Queens' where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1861–2 he was vice-chancellor of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. As president of Queens' he was noted for his hospitality, and did much to promote the welfare of his college. He gave £1000 to found a scholarship in 1887 and made a generous donation towards building the new chapel in 1891. As a fellow of Queens', Phillips had at first continued to study mathematics, but soon turned to Hebrew, which he began to teach in the college, although there was then little interest in the subject at Cambridge. He used his position to promote oriental studies in the university, and took a leading part in the establishment in 1872 of the Indian languages

tripos TRIPOS (''TRIvial Portable Operating System'') is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 a ...

and the Semitic languages tripos, examinations for which were first held in 1875. He published editions of several Syriac texts, and rewrote his earlier ''Elements as A Syriac Grammar'' (1866). Apart from his academic works, his only publication was ''Short Sermons on Old Testament Messianic Texts'' (1863).

Personal life

He was a staunch conservative, unwilling to accept contemporary developments in biblical criticism. In August 1848 he married Emily Frances (died 1898), daughter of Henry Pilkington, of Tore,

County Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

, Ireland; they had no children. Phillips died at his residence in Queens' on 5 February 1892. His funeral service was held in the college on the 11th, but his body was buried at

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. The Counties of M ...

in County Westmeath.

Works

* *

References

Sources

*J. W. Clark, ‘Phillips, George (1804–1892)’, rev. R. S. Simpson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 6 Nov 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, George 1804 births 1892 deaths Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Presidents of Queens' College, Cambridge Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge British orientalists Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People from Dunwich