PHILLIPS
,
THOMAS
(
1760
-
1851
),
surgeon and benefactor of education
;
b. in
London
,
6 July 1760
, son of
Thomas
Phillips
of
Llandegley, Rads.
He received his medical education at
Hay
and in
London
, and became a member of the
Royal College of Surgeons
. After
serving in the Navy
, he was in practice first in
Calcutta
and then in
Botany Bay
, before settling in
India
in
1802
, where he became a member of the
Calcutta Medical Board
. He returned to
London
in
1817
, and d. there
31 June 1851
.
He has been called the
chief benefactor of Welsh education in the 19th cent.
He
established scholarships
at
S. David's College
,
Lampeter
, and
endowed a chair of natural science
there. In
1847
he founded the
Welsh Collegiate Institution
(
Llandovery College
) by setting aside £140 per annum to pay the salary of the warden, stipulating that the
Welsh
language should be used in the classroom. In his will he left £12,000 as endowment for masters’ salaries. He gave many thousands of books to these institutions and to several
Welsh
towns.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
The Gentleman's Magazine
, 1731-1922.
For a long period two volumes appeared annually—these are
referred to as, e.g. ‘1776 i’ and ‘1776 ii’
,
1851
, i, 655-6;
-
Dodswell
and
Miles
,
Medical Officers of India
and
;
- Llandovery College Trust Deed.
Author:
Canon Gwilym Owen Williams, D.D., Llandovery / Bangor
