1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Phillips, Samuel

PHILLIPS, SAMUEL (1814–1854), English journalist, the son of a Jewish tradesman in London, was born on the 28th of December 1814. He was educated at University College, London, and then at Göttingen. Having renounced the Jewish faith, he returned to England and entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, with the design of taking orders. His father’s death, however, prevented this, and in 1841 he took to literary work. He wrote a novel, Caleb Stukely (1862), and other tales, and about 1845 began a connexion with The Times as literary critic. In the following year he purchased the John Bull newspaper, and edited it for a year. Two volumes of his Essays from The Times appeared in 1852 and 1854. Phillips took an active part in the formation of the Crystal Palace Company, and wrote their descriptive guides. In 1852 the university of Göttingen conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL D. He died at Brighton on the 14th of October 1854.