Biography of Samuel E. Phillips

PHILLIPS, S. E. Mr. Phillips, when a boy, was brought into contact with telegraphy, his father being at that time engaged with Dr. Whitehouse in carrying out experimental work in connection with the first Atlantic cable. He subsequently accompanied his father in the first Malta and Alexandria cable expedition; and he became a member of the staff which Colonel Stewart formed to go out with the Persian Gulf cable, remaining at Bushire as a junior clerk. At the end of three years' service he returned to England, and obtained an appointment on the electrical staff of Messrs. Latimer Clark, Ford and Co., leaving these gentlemen to become electrician to Mr. W. T. Henley, and in whose service he remained for ten years. At Mr. Henley's works he was appointed manager of the cable department, and occasionally he accompanied some of the cable expeditions as the head of the electrical department. As an inventor Mr. Phillips has given us a fluid insulator, which has been largely adopted in India. In 1875 he joined Mr. W. C. Johnson in partnership, and a small works was established at Charlton. This formed the nucleus of the present extensive range of factories.