Phillpots, Henry

PHILLPOTTS, HENRY: Church of England bishop of Exeter; b. at Bridgewater (50 m. s.w. of Bristol), Somerset, May 6, 1778; d. at Bishopstowe, Torquay (29 m. e.n.e. of Plymouth), Sept. 18, 1869. He was educated at Corpus Christi, Oxford (B.A., 1795), was elected a fellow at Magdalen College, and prelector of moral philosophy in 1800. He became a deacon (1802), and priest (1804), prebendary of Durham (1809), dean of Chester (1828), and bishop of Exeter (1830). He was the recognized head of the High-church party, and, in the House of Lords, was upon the extreme Tory side, opposing every kind of liberal measure. He was also involved in several memorable controversies, especially with the Roman Catholic historians, John Lingard (q.v.; 1806) and Charles Butler (1822). But he is best known by the Gorham Case (q.v.). On the reversal of the lower courts' decision by the privy council, he published A Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury (London and New York, 1850), in which he threatened to hold no communion with the archbishop.

Bibliography: Of the Life by R. N. Shutte only vol. i. appeared, London, 1863. Consult: H. P. Liddon, Life of . . . Pussy, 4 vols., London, 1893–97; DNB, xlv. 222–225.