John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids

John Wynford Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids Bt, GBE, PC, (30 May 1860 – 28 March 1938) was a British Liberal politician.

John Philipps, circa 1905.

Background and education

Philipps was the eldest son of Reverend Sir James Erasmus Philipps, 12th Baronet, Vicar of Warminster and Prebendary of Salisbury.[1] He was the elder brother of Ivor Philipps and Owen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant, both also MPs, and of Laurence Philipps, 1st Baron Milford. A fifth brother, Bertram, was the last private owner of Philipps House in Wiltshire.

Philipps was educated at the Felsted School and at Keble College, Oxford, where he took a third-class honours degree in modern history in 1882. He studied law at the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1886.[2]

Political career

Philipps sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Lanarkshire from 1888 to 1894.

He resigned his seat in 1894, but returned to Parliament sitting for Pembrokeshire from 1898 to 1908. Four years before he succeeded his father in the baronetcy, he was raised to the peerage as Baron St Davids, of Roch Castle in the County of Pembroke. In 1918 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount St Davids, of Lydstep Haven in the County of Pembroke. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1922.[3][4]

Election results
1888 Mid Lanarkshire by-election [5] Registered electors 9,143
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Wynford Philipps 3,847 52.1 -4.5
Conservative William Bousfield 2,917 39.5 -4.0
Independent Labour James Keir Hardie 617 8.4 N/A
Majority 930 12.6 -0.4
Turnout 7,381 80.7 +5.9
Liberal hold Swing
General election 1892: Mid Lanarkshire [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Wynford Philipps 4,611
Conservative Robert E.S. Harington-Stuart 3,489
1898 Pembrokeshire by-election [7] Electorate 11,061
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Wynford Philipps 5,070 59.9
Conservative Hon. Hugh Frederick Vaughan Campbell 3,400 40.1
Majority 1,670 19.8
Turnout 8,470 76.6
Liberal hold Swing
General election 1900 Pembrokeshire[8] Electorate 11,083
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Wynford Philipps unopposed n/a n/a
Liberal hold Swing n/a
General election 1906 Pembrokeshire[9] Electorate 11,322
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Wynford Philipps 5,886 69.3 n/a
Conservative John Rolleston Lort-Williams 2,606 30.7 n/a
Majority 3,280 38.6 n/a
Turnout 8,492 75.0 n/a
Liberal hold Swing n/a

Personal life

Lord St Davids was married twice. Firstly, on 14 February 1888 to Leonora Gerstenberg. They had two children:

  • Capt. Hon. Colwyn Erasmus Arnold Philipps (11 December 1888 – 13 May 1915)
  • Capt. Hon. Roland Erasmus Philipps (27 February 1890 – 7 July 1916)

His first wife, Leonora, died on 30 March 1915. Both their sons died during the First World War and thus predeceased their father and did not inherit his title.

Lord St Davids' second marriage was to Elizabeth Frances Abney-Hastings on 27 April 1916. They had two children:

References
  1. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. Armorial Families, p. 787. Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works, 1895.
  2. "Philipps, John Wynford, 1st Viscount St. Davids, 13th Baronet, of Picton Castle," Welsh Biography Online, accessed 28 September 2013.
  3. Profile, ancestry.com; accessed 13 June 2015.
  4. Profile, thepeerage.com; accessed 13 June 2015.
  5. Craig
  6. Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
  7. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  8. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  9. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  10. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3472
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Stephen Mason		 Member of Parliament for Mid Lanarkshire
1888–1894		 Succeeded by
James Caldwell
Preceded by
William Rees Morgan Davies		 Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire
1898–1908		 Succeeded by
Walter Francis Roch
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl Cawdor		 Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire
1911–1932		 Succeeded by
Sir Evan Davies Jones, Bt
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount St Davids
1918–1938		 Succeeded by
Jestyn Philipps
Baron St Davids
1908–1938
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Philipps		 Baronet
(of Picton Castle)
1912–1938		 Succeeded by
Jestyn Philipps
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