Nat Gould

Walter Henry Phillips 1865-1941

Walter Henry Phillips was born in 1865 at Warslow in Staffordshire, the son of Alfred Phillips 1832-1922 and his wife née Anne Trueman 1838-1905 of Hall Cliffe in Warslow, and was baptised on 13 August 1865 at Warslow.

When the Census was taken in 1881 Walter Henry Phillips was working as an indoor farm servant aged fifteen for widowed Lydia Shirley at Marsh House, Fawfieldhead in Alstonefield parish in Staffordshire.

On 31 October 1886 he married Ellen Phillips 1868-1902, the daughter of William Phillips 1815-1873 and his wife née Hannah Phillips 1823-1888 of Clough Head in Warslow.

By 1891 they had taken over his wife's family farm at Clough Head in Warslow, following the death of his widowed mother-in-law Hannah Phillips in 1888.

They had the following children:

Ann Ellen Phillips. She was born in 1886, and baptised at Warslow on 25 December 1886. She died in 1888.

Bertha Livinia Phillips. She was born in 1888 at Beswick in Manchester, and baptised at Warslow on 12 August 1888. When the Census was taken in 1901 she was employed aged 13 as a domestic servant at Cheadle in Staffordshire in the household of farmer William S Hulme and his sister Hannah Hulme. By 1911 she was back home at Warslow as housekeeper for her widowed father, her mother having died in 1902.

William Alfred Phillips. He was born in 1889 at Warslow, and died in 1892.

Walter Henry Phillips. He was born in 1892 at Warslow. When the 1911 Census was taken he was aged nineteen and working as a cowman for Charles Fielding Finney at Herbage farm in Warslow parish. In 1912 he married Lily Matilda Bainbridge 1906-1996, the daughter of Lily Matilda Bainbridge 1880-1920 and the granddaughter of Thomas Bainbridge 1830-1911 of Ryder Point near Middleton-by-Wirksworth in Derbyshire and his wife nee Emma Wagstaff 1841-1903. Walter Henry Phillips died on 26 March 1979.

Martha Phillips. She was born in 1893 at Warslow.

Frank Phillips. He was born in 1894 at Warslow. In 1911 he was working on the family farm of his widowed father. He died in 1963 aged 69 years.

Ellen Phillips. She was born in 1896 at Warslow. When the 1911 Census was taken she was working as a domestic servant for William Brough at Hallowes Farm, Wetton in Staffordshire.

Marion Christina Phillips. She was born on 16 March 1898 at Warslow. In 1919 she was married to Daniel Stone Shimwell 1895-1974, the son of William Smith Shimwell 1866-1924 and his wife nee Mary Hannah Stone 1868-1940 of Stanton Hill Side, Birchover in Derbyshire. They lived at Wirksworth in Derbyshire (1). Marion Christina Shimwell née Phillips died on 14 December 1984.

William Phillips. He was born on 22 September 1899 at Warslow, and died in 1983.

Alfred Phillips. He was born in 1900 at Warslow, and died in 1901.

Signature on 1911 Census Return

Their mother Ellen Phillips died in 1902 aged only 34 years.

In 1911 their widowed father was recorded as being a farmer and carter in Warslow, living with his eldest daughter Bertha Livinia Phillips aged 23 and single as housekeeper, and his son Frank Phliips aged 17 employed on the family farm.

Walter Henry Phillips died in 1941 aged 75 years.

(1) It would seem that the marriage was not altogether harmonious. On 7 January 1939 his wife left Daniel Stone Shimwell (a retired farmer of 48 Top Road, Bolehill in Wirksworth) to live at the house of her brother Walter Henry Phillips of Water Lane in Middleton-by-Wirksworth. On 30 January and 15 February 1939 he went there, creating a disturbance and damaging a door and lock. At Wirksworth Police Court he was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for theft and fourteen days for wilful damage to run concurrently. At the previous court a case against him for stealing two fowls from a neighbour had been adjourned on condition that he entered Belper Institution for fourteen days, but had stayed there for only three days. He was not a candidate for a mental home. Derby Daily Telegraph 1 March 1939. Belper Institution was presumably Belper Union Workhouse which by 1938 had been taken over by Derbyshire County Council and become the Babington House Public Assistance Institution.