Nat Gould

Walter Henry Phillips 1892-1979

Walter Henry Phillips was born in 1892 at Warslow in Staffordshire, the son of Walter Henry Phillips 1865-1941 and his wife née Ellen Phillips 1868-1902 of 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.

Ryder Point in 1902, home of the Bainbridge family

In 1912 he married Lily Matilda Bainbridge 1907-1996 (1), the daughter of Lily Matilda Bainbridge 1880-1920 and the granddaughter of Thomas Bainbridge 1830-1911 of Ryder Point (2) near Middleton-by-Wirksworth in Derbyshire and his wife nee Emma Wagstaff 1841-1903.

They had the following children:

Doris Phillips. She was born in 1912 and died in 1989.

Olive Phillips. She was born in 1913 and died in 1921.

Walter Henry Phillips. He was born in 1918 and died in 2008.

Roy Phillips. He was born in 1927 and died in 1974.

Jean Phillips. She was born in 1934 and died in 1939.

Their father Walter Henry Phillips became a haulage contractor at Middleton-by Wirksworth. His sons later took over the business. Their brick red lorries were a familiar sight in the district until around the 1950s.

Walter Henry Phillips had a farm near Intake Quarry, and also a quarry on Colehill thought to have been taken over later by Wimpeys when they were supplying stone for major road works. He owned a Rolls Royce car which often carried bails of hay or milk churns in the boot. He was a rotund man of cheerful demeanour and greatly respected. For many years he lived up Water Lane in Middleton-by Wirksworth (3).

Walter Henry Phillips died on 26 March 1979. His widow Lily Matilda Phillips nee Bainbridge died in 1996.

(1) Lily Matilda Bainbridge 1907-1996 was the sister of Violet Adams Bainbridge 1908-1996, who became the wife of his first cousin Walter Henry Phillips 1905-1972.
(2) The cottage at Ryder Point was demolished in the 1920s for the widening of the Via Gellia road. The illustration is from a 1902 postcard. The Via Gellia road through the picturesque limestone valley was named after Philip Gell of Hopton Hall who had it constructed in 1791-1792 to improve access between his lead mines and the Cromford smelter.
(3) Information of Stuart G Flint http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/X206.htm#people on the superbly maintained and informative website of John Palmer http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/Index.htm There was formerly a toll gate at Ryder Point, and Thomas Bainbridge 1830-1911 had been the toll keeper.