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Born in 1840, the second son of Sir Benjamin Samuel Phillips, a wealthy Jewish merchant. He was educated at University College School London and completed his studies in Berlin and Paris before entering his father’s business. In 1867, he married Helen Levy, daughter of the owner and editor of the Daily Telegraph, Joseph Moses Levy. He served as Sheriff of London and Middlesex from 1884-1885 and succeeded his father as Alderman of the ward of Farringdon Within, in 1888. In 1894, he became a governor of the Honorable Irish Society.
In 1896, he became Lord Mayor of the City of London and as such was the City’s Chief Magistrate for Queen victoria’s Diamond Jubilee the following year, receiving the Queen at Temple Bar and subsequently at Mansion House. During his year as Lord Mayor, he raised totals exceeding £1 million for the relief of the famine in India and other charitable causes. When he was created a baronet, he received the Grand Cross of the Indian Empire for recognition to his services to India. He died in Hertfordshire on 28 December 1922.
‘The Right Honourable George Faudel Faudel-Phillips became the second son of Sir Benjamin Phillips, of Brighton, seven-and-fifty years ago; since when he has consistently developed faculties and taken opportunities that have together made of him the First Magistrate in the City of London: as his father was before him. He began to acquire wisdom at University College School; he added to it in Berlin and Paris; and he has ever since been improving himself. Thirteen years ago he was Sheriff of London and Middlesex; then he succeeded his father as Alderman of the Ward of Farringdon Within; and last year he became Lord Mayor just in time to hold that high Office for the Diamond Jubilee. He is also Governor of the Honourable Irish Society, High Sheriff of London, Governor of three hospitals, Chairman of a Special Committee of the Corporation of London, Member of the Hertfordshire County Council and Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire, President of the Jewish Orphan Asylum, and many other things. He has the Second Class Order of the Osmanieh and the Second Class Order of the Lion and Sun of Persia; he is a Knight of the Servian Order of Tirckova, and he is an Officer of the Order of Leopold.
He has houses in London and Brighton, and a happy place in Hertfordshire.
He is a clever, ambitious, energetic man who is equal to every occasion; and he owes much of his success to his clear judgment, his imperturbable temper, and his readiness of speech. An excellent magistrate, he is also a keen sportsman who can stop a rocketer or a driven partridge as neatly as he can floor an impostor. Altogether he is a versatile fellow, a hard worker who believes in doing a thing well, an excellent husband, and a stout friend. He is a good Lord Mayor, and the best part of the City is proud of him; while Society, though he is a Lord Mayor, quite likes him.
He cycles, rides, and drives; yet he is so devoted to books that he revels in a magnificent library.’
Vanity Fair, 10 June 1897
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