1820 British Settler

Leader of Philipp's Party of 30 people, on the Kennersley Castle.

Party originated from Pembrokeshire, Wales

Departure Bristol, 10 January 1820. Arrival Table Bay, Cape Town - 29 March 1820. Final Port - Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth 29 April 1820

Area Allocated to the Party : Bush River - Philipps named the location Lampeter, after the Carmarthenshire village of Lampeter Velfrey.

Accompanied by wife Charlotte Harriet Arbouin 41, and 7 children :

Catherine 17, Edward Philipps 16, Charlotte Philipps 14 Sophia Philipps 12, Frederick Philipps 10, Emma Philipps 6, John Philipps 4.

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Thomas Philipps of Milford: Emigrant Extraordinary

In 1820 Thomas Philipps sailed from Bristol in the Kennersley Castle at the head of a hopeful band of over thirty Pembrokeshire emigrants to the Cape: they were a small contingent of the so called '1820 settlers' who gave South Africa its partly British character. Philipps was destined to become one of the pioneers of that settlement, and as such is commemorated in the South African Dictionary of National Biography. His South African career, as described in his letters to his family in Britain, can be studied in professor Arthur Keppel Jones' edition of this correspondence, published in 1960 under the title 'Philipps, 1820 Settler.' The economic advantages of emigration were a constant theme of Philipps' writings, both public and private. Soon after his arrival at the Cape, he wrote to Rev. Thomas Brigstocke, rector of Walwyn's Castle in his native county:

"... Farmers, carpenters, masons, in short all the country trades in the County of Pembroke will be most amply recompensed by emigrating to this Colony, and will always find employment. £6 a month is the common rate of pay for carpenters and masons. Many of them earn enough for their families, and if saving, to buy a couple of cows every month ..."

Such were the prospects for country tradesmen, but what made Thomas Philipps their prospector? The answer may be suggested by tracing the early career of this pioneer who found a degree of fulfilment in the 'heavenly climate' 2 of the Cape that was denied him under the greyer skies of home.

His origins were auspicious. On his father's side he was descended from one of those lost tribes of the ancient Welsh house of Cilsant who as the chieftains of the clan, the Philippses of Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire failed to produce male heirs hovered in the wings with great expectations. In 1776, the year of Thomas Philipps' birth, Sir Richard Philipps, 7th baronet, of Picton achieved his apotheosis as Lord Milford in the Irish peerage: but he had no son to inherit his glory. A son was born to his modest kinsman, Rev. Edward (or 'Ned' as he was known) Philipps, rector of Begelly, who had been presented to that living in 1767 by the gift of Lord Milford's widowed mother. This country clergyman's forebears had long been settled in Lampeter Velfre. 3 His father, Thomas Philipps, who died 1st May 1767 aged 65, was described on his memorial at Lampeter church as 'A kind husband, father and friend.' His wife's name was Dorothy. Rev. Edward Philipps (born 1737) was their youngest child. The eldest, Philipp, an attorney, married in 1759 Anne, daughter and heir of John Smith of Jeffreston, high sheriff in 1753, and left issue who made their home at Jeffreston ; the second son, John Philipps of Begelly died unmarried leaving his property by a will dated 11 April 1777, to his younger brother Edward. A daughter, Cecilia, died unmarried at Tenby in 1805.

Rev. Edward Philipps, a graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, married, by a licence dated 5 December 1774, Catherine Harries, then of Cardigan, daughter of the late Rev. John Harries of St. Ishmael, Carms., Archdeacon of Cardigan, whose wife Mary Lewis was of a Lampeter Velfre family. Catherine had a brother Rev. Charles Harries, sometime of Panteague, Llandewi Velfre, who died vicar of Llangyfelach, Glam., in 1794, and two sisters Maria Elizabeth and Ann who lived as maiden ladies at Haverfordwest were the recipients of fond letters from their nephew in South Africa until their deaths in 1823 and 1833 respectively.

When Thomas Philipps was two years old, his father who was already a magistrate, was presented by Lord Milford to the rectory of his native Lampeter Velfre. He held this further mark of Picton Castle patronage until his death on 2 April 1793, aged 56. Apart from his eldest son Thomas, and two daughters who died in infancy, he left two sons and three daughters. John Philipps, the second son, settled in London as a merchant and married Lucretia daughter of James Pinnock of Jamaica, by whom he had a daughter Elizabeth, wife firstly of John James Ormsby and secondly of the Marquis de la Pron le Roy. Richard the third son died unmarried. Of the daughters, Mary Dorothea, the eldest, was married in London on 25 February 1796 to Nathaniel Phillips of Slebech, a prosperous former West Indian planter, as his second wife. Her mother, Catherine Philipps, died at Slebech on 6 May 1803, aged 55. The second daughter, Cecilia, became in 1801 the wife of Charles Allen Philipps of St. Brides, while the youngest, Catherine, married in turn Aldborough Richardson, of Wimpole Street, and Lt. Gen. the Hon. Sir Henry King. Unlike her elder sisters she had no children, but she was a devoted genealogist, and the loyal and affectionate champion at home of her brother in South Africa.

This was the family background of Thomas Philipps. He was evidently intended for the law. His father's death when he was seventeen with younger brothers and sisters to provide for must have been unsettling; and although he was described as of Gray's Inn in 1800, it does not appear that he took up law. On 30 July 1801 he was married at St. Mary's Islington to Charlotte Harriet Arbouin, of Highbury Place, Middlesex: his address was then 'City Chambers', that of his brother John. His bride was the fourth daughter of Matthew Arbouin, merchant of 17 Mincing Lane, son of Francis Arbouin, brandy merchant of the same place. Her father had died in 1792, four years after her mother. Her brothers Samuel and James were London merchants formerly engaged in the Bordeaux wine trade, 4 and her eldest sister Sophia was the wife of another merchant, Roger Harries of Islington, (d. 1839) who seems to have been a relative of Philipps on his mother's side, possibly even her brother. Thomas Philipps remained in touch with these other Harries connexions of his, and in 1830 welcomed their only child, William Mathew Harries and his newly wedded wife, Anna Maria, youngest daughter of Abel Walford Bellairs of Haverfordwest, as emigrants to South Africa."

See the complete extract of this article (Gareth Hicks May 2003)

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[Transcriber’s Note: An article on Thomas PHILIPPS in the National Library of Wales Journal 1977 XX/1 and reproduced at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/ThomasPhilipps.html says:

“On 30 July 1801 he was married at St. Mary's Islington to Charlotte Harriet ARBOUIN, of Highbury Place, Middlesex: his address was then 'City Chambers', that of his brother John. His bride was the fourth daughter of Matthew ARBOUIN, merchant of 17 Mincing Lane, son of Francis ARBOUIN, brandy merchant of the same place. Her father had died in 1792, four years after her mother. Her brothers Samuel and James were London merchants formerly engaged in the Bordeaux wine trade, and her eldest sister Sophia was the wife of another merchant, Roger HARRIES of Islington, (d. 1839) who seems to have been a relative of PHILIPPS on his mother's side, possibly even her brother. Thomas PHILIPPS remained in touch with these other HARRIES connexions of his, and in 1830 welcomed their only child, William Mathew HARRIES and his newly wedded wife, Anna Maria, youngest daughter of Abel Walford BELLAIRS of Haverfordwest, as emigrants to South Africa.

In addition to the foregoing, a considerable amount of detail concerning Thomas Philipps (his forebears; his embarkation on the Kennersley Castle and his subsequent life with his family in South Africa) can be found in the following book:-

• PHILIPPS, 1820 SETTLER ... His letters edited by Arthur Keppel-Jones in consultation with Philipps' great-granddaughter E.K. HEATHCOTE Published in Pietermaritzburg by Shuter and Shooter in 1960.
• see pages 10 to 15 of Keppel-Jones' INTRODUCTION to the book (of 371 pages).
• it is presumed that this book is now out of print (2013).

As a note of warning:-

Because of the Welsh ancestory, great care should be taken when researching surnames and entering them on family trees; for example ...

• a Philipps is not a Phillips nor is it a Phillipps !!!