Mahomet Thomas Phillips

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Mahomet Thomas Phillips
File:Mahomet Thomas Phillips.jpg
Born(1876-06-01)1 June 1876
Banana, Congo
Died7 June 1943(1943-06-07) (aged 67)
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Burial placeStamford Cemetery
NationalityEnglish
OccupationSculptor, stone carver and artist
Employer(s)Bowman & Sons, Stamford
Notable workReredos - Cathedral of St John the Baptist in St John's, Canada
Memorial to Edith Cavell - Peterborough Cathedral
Font Cover - Southwark Cathedral

Mahomet Thomas Phillips (1 June 1876 – 7 June 1943) was an English-Congolese sculptor and stone carver, whose work features in cathedrals and churches in England and beyond, including in a memorial to Edith Cavell in Peterborough Cathedral, as well as a reredos for the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in St John's, Newfoundland in Canada.

Biography

Phillips was born on 1 June 1876 in Banana, Congo, and was the third child of an English trader named Richard Cobden Phillips and Menina Barros, the daughter of a chief of the local Kabinda people. Both he and his brother were educated at a mission school in Mukinvika. Sometime in the 1880s Mahomet and his younger sister Nene travelled to England.[1] In 1891 Mahomet was living in Salford with his father and his two cousins Paul and Ernest John Harrison.[2]

From 1896 to 1909 Phillips studied and worked under George Walker Milburn at the York School of Science & Art.[2] He passed his first exams there in 1896.[3] In 1905 he was awarded a first class prize for 'drawing from Antiques'.[4] During this time he met his wife Mary Ann Morley; they went on to have three children - Nene (1900), Lancelot Barros (1902) and Francisco Morley (1904).[2]

Memorial to Edith Cavell in Peterborough Cathedral

Between 1910 to 1911 Phillips and his family moved to Tottenham.[2] However in 1913 a roodscreen by him was unveiled at St Chad's in Dunholme, Lincolnshire.[5] By 1916 the family were living in Peterborough, where he worked for the builder and stonemason J. Thompson & Sons.[2] Whilst there he worked on the memorial designed by Temple Moore to Edith Cavell in Peterborough Cathedral.[6] In 1916 he was conscripted into the British Army after an appeal and joined the Royal Field Artillery, attaining the rank of corporal.[2] In the Military Service Tribunal notice, he was described by the Peterborough Express as a "sculptor in wood, stone and marble".[7]

After the end of the First World War, Phillips returned to his work as a sculptor; one of his first commissions was Sleaford, Quarrington and Holdingham War Memorial in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, which was unveiled in 1922. He also worked on Hereford War Memorial in the same year. In 1923 he created a falcon and a unicorn for St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[2] The same year he, and his son Lancelot, completed a reredos for the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in St John’s in Newfoundland. It took them 2,779 hours to create.[2]

In parallel to the independent works created by Phillips and his son, he also worked for companies, such as Bowman & Sons in Stamford.[2][8] In 1920 he worked with them on the creation of Grantham War Memorial.[9] He became head of sculpting at Bowman & Sons and is credited with works in the cathedrals of Bradford, Chelmsford, Southwark, Manchester and Peterborough.[2] In 1925 he worked on a memorial to Helen Currer Briggs, a former Lady Mayoress of Leeds, who instigated Leeds Poor Children's Holiday Camp Association.[10] In 1926 whilst working for Bowman & Sons, Mahomet designed and carved the new screen in St Martin's Church, Stamford. During his lifetime he also worked with a number of well known architects including Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Sir Charles Nicholson.[2]

Phillips died on 7 June 1943 and is buried in Stamford Cemetery.[2]

Legacy

Even after his death, Bowman & Sons were supplying pieces he had carved as part of commissions, one of which included the addition of a George & Dragon figure by him to the Second World War memorial in St George's Church, Stamford.[11][12]

In October 2022 the University of Lincoln unveiled an exhibition in the University Library dedicated to Phillips' life.[13]

Gallery of works

  • Sleaford War Memorial

    Sleaford War Memorial

  • Hereford War Memorial

    Hereford War Memorial

References

  1. ^ Hughes, H (17 October 2022). "Mahomet Thomas Phillips Part 1". University of Lincoln.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hughes, H (17 October 2022). "Mahomet Thomas Phillips Part 2". University of Lincoln.
  3. ^ "York School of Science and Art: Pass List". Yorkshire Gazette. 29 August 1896. p. 6.
  4. ^ "St Leonard's School of Art". Driffield Times. 14 October 1905.
  5. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John; Antram, Nicholas (1989-01-01). Lincolnshire. Yale University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-300-09620-0.
  6. ^ "Edith Louisa Cavell". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
  7. ^ "City Tribunals". Peterborough Express. 21 June 1916. p. 3.
  8. ^ "Uncovering the mystery of the carved wings on an Easton house". Stamford Mercury. 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  9. ^ "Grantham". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
  10. ^ "Leeds Poor Children's Holiday Camp". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 6 July 1925. p. 11.
  11. ^ "Stamford Church's Celebrations". Stamford Mercury. 8 April 1949. p. 4.
  12. ^ "Stamford Church's Quincentenary". Stamford Mercury. 29 April 1949. p. 5.
  13. ^ "Black History Month events – Staff News". Retrieved 2022-10-21.
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