Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Phillips, Thomas (d.1815)
PHILLIPS, THOMAS (d. 1815), historian of Shrewsbury, was a native of that town. His brother Richard (d. 1815) was mayor there in 1814. By the influence of Sir William Pulteney Thomas obtained a place in the customs. He died in London on 9 Jan. 1815. In 1779 he published, in quarto, with several plates, his ‘History and Antiquities of Shrewsbury from its Foundation to the present time, with an Appendix, containing several particulars relative to Castles, Monasteries, &c., in Shropshire.’ The book was, to a large extent, the work of a Mr. Bowen of Halston, Shropshire. It remained the standard history of Shrewsbury till Owen and Blakeway issued their ‘History’ in 1825, with acknowledgments to their predecessor. A second edition of Phillips's work formed the first volume of C. Hulbert's ‘History of the County of Salop’ (1837).
[Lit. Memoirs of Living Authors, 1798; Salopian Magazine, 31 Jan. and 29 April 1815; Gent. Mag. 1815, pt. ii. p. 187.]