William Garside Phillips

{{short description|Pioneering colliery manager}} {{Infobox person | name = William Garside Phillips | image = File:William_Garside_Phillips.png | caption = Garside in a 1929 newspaper | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1849|01|20|df=y}} | birth_place = Hyde, Manchester | death_date = {{Death date and age|1929|01|01|1849|01|20|df=y}} | death_place = Ansley, Warwickshire | known_for = Mining<br />Mining education | spouse = Emma Phillips, ''née'' Grundy {{marriage| |1871|1921 |reason=death}} | children = 5 }}

'''William Garside Phillips''' JP (13 April 1849 - 1 January 1929) was a pioneer in mining education, the managing director of Ansley Hall Colliery and chair of the Atherstone Rural District Association from 1907 to 1929.<ref name=atherstoneherald>{{cite news |date=1929-01-11 |work=Atherstone Herald |author= |title=Tribute to Late Chairman – Mr W G Phillips JP |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/784879998/?terms=%22W%20G%20Phillips%22&match=1 |page=1 |location=Atherstone, UK }}</ref> He was called ''The Field Marshal of Warwickshire Coalfield''.<ref name=nuneatonobserver>{{cite news |date=1929-01-04 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Field Marshal of the Warwickshire Coalfield |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004593/19290104/079/0004 |page=4 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref>

==Family and personal life== William Garside Phillips was born in Hyde, Manchester to John Phillips<ref name=tamworth>{{cite news |date=1929-01-05 |work=Tamworth Herald |author= |title=Death of Mr W G Phillips JP |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19290105/031/0004 | page=4 |location=Tamworth, UK }}</ref> and Eliza Wilde, into “a nest of colliers”.<ref name=hinckleyecho/> He married Emma Grundy (1848–1921) in 1871. They had five children: Annie Mary Helps (1873–1951), Edith Tew (1878–1947), Gertrude Tremlett (1880–1960), Joseph Herbert Phillips (1881–1951) and Coningsby Wilde Phillips (1884–1964). The family moved to Warwickshire in 1879.

===Death=== Phillips died at Ansley Hall on New Year's Day 1929. At his funeral, a wagon carrying over 100 wreaths, “a great many of which were representative ones sent from big groups of people” followed the procession.<ref>{{cite news |date=1929-01-12 |work=Coventry Herald |author= |title=The late Mr W G Phillips |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000384/19290112/172/0011 | page=11 |location=Coventry, UK }}</ref> In March 1931, the Phillips family made a donation to St Lawrence Church, Ansley, consisting of a new West Window, designed by Karl Parsons, an oak screen, choir stalls and electric lighting, all dedicated to Phillips’ memory. At the dedication service the Bishop of Coventry delivered the address.<ref>{{cite news |date=1931-04-13 |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |author= |title=Memorials to Warwickshire Coalowner |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000337/19310413/036/0003 |page=3 |location=Coventry, UK }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1931-04-17 |work=Midland Counties Tribune |author= |title=Stained glass window at Ansley Church |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003335/19310417/269/0009 |page=9 |location=Coventry, UK }}</ref>

==Mining== Phillips began working at Hyde and Haughton Collieries at the age of nine.<ref name=tamworth/> At 17 he was made a manager and at a “comparative young age” he earned the Mine Manager's certificate. His studies involved walking eight miles to Queen's College, Manchester and back, for evening classes, following a 13-hour shift in the mine.<ref name=nuneatonobserver/>

In December 1879 he moved to Warwickshire to become managing director of Ansley Hall Coal and Iron Company's colliery. At that point the colliery was “in a more or less critical condition”<ref name=tamworth/> and Phillips “converted an unprofitable undertaking into one of the most up-to-date and successful pits in the country. He was the Warwickshire pioneer in substituting electric haulage underground for ponies 39 years ago.”<ref name=yorkshirepost>{{cite news |date=1929-01-03 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |author= |title=Warwickshire Mining Expert |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19290103/087/0004 | page=4 |location=Leeds, UK }}</ref> He was described as the “Field-Marshal of the Warwickshire coalfield”.<ref name=nuneatonobserver/>

==Mining roles== * ''Warwickshire Coalfield Wage Board'', chair<ref name=yorkshirepost/> * ''Warwickshire Coal Owners’ Association'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1921-06-25 |work=Kenilworth Advertiser |author= |title=Death of Mrs W G Phillips of Ansley Hall |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003066/19210625/059/0003 | page=3 |location=Kenilworth, UK }}</ref> * ''Warwickshire School of Mining'', founder<ref>{{cite news |date=1929-01-02 |work=Evening Despatch |author= |title=G O M of mining |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/848905109/?terms=%22W%20G%20Phillips%22&match=1 | page=5 |location=Birmingham, UK }}</ref> * ''Chesterfield and Midland Institute of Mining Engineers'', president<ref name=hinckleyecho>{{cite news |date=1929-01-04 |work=Hinckley Echo |author= |title=Death of Mr W G Phillips JP |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/936410548/?terms=%22W%20G%20Phillips%22&match=1 |page=5 |location=Hinckley, UK }}</ref> * ''Warwickshire Mining Students’ Association'', president<ref name=tamworth/> * ''Mining Association of Great Britain'', Warwickshire representative<ref name=hinckleyecho/>

==Community== Phillips was the leader of the Nuneaton division of the Conservative and Unionist Party<ref name=tamworth/> but declined an invitation to contest Nuneaton's parliamentary seat.<ref name=yorkshirepost/> In 1904 he donated land for Ansley's village school, which was established in 1906.<ref>{{cite news |date=1904-04-22 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=School matters discussed |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003171/19040422/066/0006 |page=6 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> In 1906 he became Justice of the peace for Warwickshire, taking his seat on the Atherstone bench.<ref>{{cite news |date=1906-10-19 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Mr W G Phillips JP |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003171/19061019/103/0008 |page=8 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> Other roles included:

* ''Nuneaton Conservative Party'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1886-10-15 |work=Atherstone News and Herald |author= |title=Ansley Conservative Demonstration |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003381/18861015/004/0004 | page=4 |location=Atherstone, UK }}</ref> * ''Ansley Parish Council'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1900-02-10 |work=Midland Counties Tribune |author= |title=Prosperous Nuneaton |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003334/19000210/051/0003 | page=3 |location=Birmingham, UK }}</ref> * ''Atherstone Board of Guardians'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1929-01-05 |work=Tamworth Herald |author= |title=The late Mr W G Phillips |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19290105/039/0005 | page=5 |location=Tamworth, UK }}</ref> * ''Board of guardians Vaccination Committee'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1904-12-30 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Severely criticized by the guardians |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003171/19041230/084/0005 |page=5 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> * ''Atherstone Rural District Council'', chair<ref>{{cite news |date=1904-03-19 |work=Tamworth Herald |author= |title=Atherstone Rural District Council Election |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19040319/054/0008 | page=8 |location=Tamworth, UK }}</ref> (1907–1929) <ref name=atherstoneherald/> * ''Nuneaton Gas Company'', vice-chair * ''Ansley and District Agricultural and Horticultural Society'', founder and president (1900–1929) <ref name=tamworth/><ref>{{cite news |date=1900-08-24 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Annual Show |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002966/19000824/113/0005 |page=5 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> * ''Nuneaton Town Cricket Club'', president<ref>{{cite news |date=1906-12-14 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Cricket Club Smoker |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003171/19061214/073/0005 |page=5 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> * ''Charity of St John Twycross and John Perkins'', trustee<ref>{{cite news |date=1905-03-24 |work=Nuneaton Observer |author= |title=Charity Commission |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003171/19050324/003/0001 |page=1 |location=Nuneaton, UK }}</ref> {{Portal|Biography}} ==References== {{Reflist}}

{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, William Garside}} Category:1849 births Category:1929 deaths Category:British businesspeople in the coal industry Category:British coal miners Category:English miners