SCOURFIELD, alias PHILIPPS, Sir JOHN HENRY (1808-1876), author;
b. 1808, son of Owen Philipps, Williamston, near Neyland, Pembs., and his wife Elizabeth Anne Scourfield, Moat, Pembs. He was educated at Harrow and Oriel College, Oxford. He was sheriff of Pembrokeshire 1833, Member of Parliament for Haverfordwest 1852-68, and for the county of Pembroke 1868-76. He m., 1845, Augusta Lort Philipps, Lawrenny, Pembs., by whom he had two sons. In 1862 on succeeding to the estates of his maternal uncle William Henry Scourfield, of Moat and Robeston Hall, he assumed the name and arms of Scourfield. He was cr. a baronet by Disraeli on 18 Feb. 1876 but he d. on 3 June of the same year.
The titles of five publications by Scourfield, all of which are scarce, are given in Jnl. Welsh Bibliog. Soc., iii, 37-8. The first, Dies Landoveriensis, c. 1847, is a skit on the Welsh Collegiate Institution, Llandovery, which was opened in 1847. Then come Lyrics and Philippics, 1859 (another ed. in 1864 and another later), Lyrics, 1864 (2nd ed. in 1864 and a third in 1866), The Grand Serio-Comic Opera of Lord Bateman and his Sophia, 1863 (another ed. in 1865), and The Mayor's Tale: A Tragic and a Diabolic Opera. By J.H.S., late J.H.P. (undated, but obviously not before 1862). Many of Scourfield's poems have a Welsh interest.
Bibliography:
- H. M. Vaughan, ‘Sir John Henry Scourfield, Baronet, and his writings,’ in Jnl. W.B.S., iii, 33-8;
- N.L.W. MSS. 4741-9.
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952), Aberystwyth
