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:
- D.N.B.;
- Gents. Mag., 1851, i, 655-6;
- Dodswell and Miles, Medical Officers of India;
- Llandovery College Trust Deed.
Author:
Canon Gwilym Owen Williams, D.D., Llandovery / Bangor
