William Phillips Jr.

{{Short description|American politician (1750–1827)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder |name= William Phillips Jr. |image= Gilbert Stuart - Portrait of William Phillips - 13.792 - Rhode Island School of Design Museum.jpg |caption= |order= 10th |office= Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts |term_start= 1812 |term_end= 1823 |governor= Caleb Strong<br />John Brooks |predecessor= William Gray |successor= Levi Lincoln Jr. |birth_date= {{birth date|1750|3|30|mf=y}} |birth_place= Boston, Massachusetts |death_date= {{death date and age|1827|5|26|1750|3|30|mf=y}} |death_place= Boston, Massachusetts |party= Federalist |profession= |spouse= |footnotes= }}

'''William Phillips Jr.''' (March 30, 1750 – May 26, 1827) was a Boston merchant, politician and philanthropist.

Phillips was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of William Phillips Sr. He joined his father in business and became wealthy.<ref name=ea/> He was a descendant of Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America.<ref>Bond, Henry and Jones, Horatio. Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Including Waltham and Weston: To which is Appended the Early History of the Town. New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1860, pgs. 872-882</ref>

Phillips was elected the tenth lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1812 to 1823. He drafted the letter inviting New England Governors to send delegates to the Hartford Convention of 1815. On his death, he bequeathed large sums to Phillips Academy, Andover, and to Andover Theological Seminary.<ref name=ea>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Phillips, William (benefactor)|display=Phillips, William, American educational benefactor}}</ref>

Phillips married Miriam Mason (1754–1823) on September 13, 1774, in Norwich, Massachusetts. They had seven children. Phillips was the grandfather of Samuel H. Walley who was a U.S. representative from Massachusetts.<ref>{{Citation |last = Peabody| first = Andrew Preston | title = Harvard graduates whom I have known | page = 214 | publisher = The Riverside Press | location = Cambridge, MA | year = 1890}}</ref>

He was also the first president of the Massachusetts General Hospital and has a building there named after him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.massgeneral.org/phillips/about/ |title=About Us |website=www.massgeneral.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227041832/http://www.massgeneral.org/phillips/about |archive-date=2009-12-27}} </ref>

Phillips was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistp American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref> He died in Boston.

The town of Phillipston, Massachusetts was named after Phillips on February 5, 1814.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|11562964}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before=William Gray | title=Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts | years=1812–1823 | after=Levi Lincoln Jr. }} {{s-end}} {{Lieutenant Governors of Massachusetts}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, William Jr.}} Category:1750 births Category:1827 deaths Category:Massachusetts Federalists Category:Lieutenant governors of Massachusetts Category:American philanthropists William Jr. Category:18th-century American merchants