George Phillips : Titanic Victim

Contents

Biography
Basic facts
Notes
References and sources
Comment and Discuss
Credits
Link and cite

Mr George Phillips was born in Hampshire, England around 1885.¹ Details about his life and background are largely unknown.²

When he signed on to the Titanic on 6 April 1912 Phillips gave his local address as 5 Grove Street, Southampton; as per the 1911 census, this was the home of a Mr and Mrs William Ricketts. His previous ship had been the Olympic and as a greaser he earned £6 per month.

George Phillips died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

A memorial notice was placed in the Southern Evening Echo on 16 April 1917:

PHILLIPS--In loving remembrance of my dear brother George Phillips, aged 32 years. From his loving brother Bob.

Notes

When he signed on Titanic he gave his age as 27; his 1917 memorial notice casts some doubt as to his true age and states that he was aged 32 years. There is also the possibility that "Bob" meant that he would have been 32 had he been alive...?
Census records show just one Hampshire-born George Phillips who had a brother named "Bob": the 1891 census shows George Phillips, born in Hound, Hampshire circa 1885, son of William Phillips (b. 1833), a labourer, and the former Mary Ann Mason (b. 1842). His siblings were Robert (b. 1873), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1875), Eliza Ann (b. 1878) and Alice (b. 1882). This George's birth was registered in South Stoneham in 1884's second quarter. Whether it is the correct family is not certain.