Author: Phillips, Peter
Biography:
PHILLIPS, Peter (fl 1834)
The Universal Restoration does not appear to have attracted reviews and was Phillips’s only publication. In the preface he defends the combination of religious and satirical subjects, citing Young and Cowper, and begs the reader’s indulgence for the first attempts of a young author. The main, Miltonic poem is followed by various shorter occasional pieces, generally moralistic, such as a fable about two roses that concludes that every being has its place and that the poor should accept their lot and not envy the rich. His name is not uncommon and it is not possible to identify him with certainty but he might be the Peter Phillips (1805-89) who started in business in London selling carpets and cloth floor coverings. He ended a partnership in 1831 and in the censuses of 1851 and 1881 is described as a tailor. If he was that man, he was the son of Ann (Burland) and Peter Phillips baptised at St. Anne and St. Agnes, City of London, on 29 May 1805. He was married twice, first to Mary Bedell (1801-53) at Bethnal Green, London, on 13 Sept. 1825, and then to Priscilla Joiner or Joyner (1807-86), probably in Gloucestershire in 1867. From his first marriage he had four children, only one of whom outlived his parents. He died at Bromley, Kent, on 14 Dec. 1889. (ancestry.com 5 Oct. 2023; findmypast.com 5 Oct. 2023; Morning Advertiser 15 Dec. 1831)