William Garside Phillips | |
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![]() Garside in a 1929 newspaper | |
Born | Hyde, Manchester | 20 January 1849
Died | 1 January 1929 36) | (aged
Known for | Mining Mining education |
Spouse | Emma Phillips (m. 1871;death 1921) |
Children | 5 |
William Garside Phillips (b. Hyde, 13 April 1849, d. Ansley, 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. [1] He was called The Field Marshal of Warwickshire Coalfield. [2]
William Garside Phillips was born in Hyde, Manchester to John Phillips [3] and Eliza Wilde, into “a nest of colliers”. [4] He married Emma Phillips (1848–1921) in 1871. They had five children: Annie Mary Helps (1873–1951), Edith Tew (1878–1947), Gertrude Tremlett (1880–1960), Joseph Herbert Phillips (1882–1951) and Coningsby Wilde Phillips (1884–1964). The family moved to Warwickshire in 1879.
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. [5] 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. [6] [7]
Phillips began working at Hyde and Haughton Collieries at the age of nine. [3] 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. [2]
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” [3] 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.” [8] He was described as the “Field-Marshal of the Warwickshire coalfield”. [2]
Phillips was the leader of the Nuneaton division of the Conservative and Unionist Party [3] but declined an invitation to contest Nuneaton's parliamentary seat. [8] In 1904 he donated land for Ansley's village school, which was established in 1906. [11] In 1906 he became Justice of the peace for Warwickshire, taking his seat on the Atherstone bench. [12] Other roles included:
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Warwickshire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton and the county town is Warwick.
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Hemlingford Hundred was one of the four hundreds that the English county of Warwickshire was divided into, along with Kington, Knightlow and Barlichway. It was recorded in the Domesday Book under the name of Coleshill.
Ansley is a civil parish in Warwickshire consisting of Ansley, Ansley Common, Church End, Birchley Heath and, previously, Ansley Hall Colliery.
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The Warwickshire Coalfield extends between Warwick and Tamworth in the English Midlands. It is about 25 miles (40 km) from north to south and its width is around half that distance. Its western margin is defined by the 'Western Boundary Fault'. In the northeast it abuts against steeply dipping shales of Cambrian age. The larger part of the outcrop at the surface consists of the Warwickshire Group of largely coal-barren red beds. Until its closure in 2013, the Daw Mill mine near Arley within the coalfield, was Britain's biggest coal-producer in the 21st century.
Foul End is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Kingsbury, in the North Warwickshire district, in the county of Warwickshire, England. Other nearby places include Hurley, Wood End, Hurley Common, Coleshill, Water Orton, Curdworth, Atherstone and Tamworth.
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Craig Paul Tracey is a British Conservative Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire since his election in 2015 and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party since February 2024. Originally from the North East, Tracey settled in North Warwickshire in 1997. After serving as a parish councillor he was selected as the Conservative Party's parliamentary candidate for North Warwickshire in 2014. He unexpectedly increased the Conservative majority in the constituency despite not being the favourite to win. A former member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, Tracey has served as co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Insurance and Financial Services since July 2016.
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Dorothea Mary Phillips was an English social organiser. From 1951 to 1958 she represented Oldbury Parish on the Atherstone Rural Council. She was the grandmother of Mark Phillips and great-niece of the painter Henry Moore R.A.