Augustus Phillimore
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Admiral
| name = Sir Augustus Phillimore
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| image = Capt augustus phillimore.jpg
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| caption = Captain Phillimore
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1822|05|24|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1897|11|25|1822|05|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Whitehall, London, England
| death_place = Botley, Hampshire
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| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom|23px}}
| branch = {{navy|United Kingdom|23px}}
| serviceyears = 1835–1887
| rank = Admiral
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| unit =
| commands = HMS Medea
HMS Curacoa
HMS Defence
Plymouth Command
| battles = Carlist Wars
First Opium War
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| awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
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Admiral Sir Augustus Phillimore {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB|FRGS}} (24 May 1822 – 25 November 1897) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. He is credited with first proposing the creation of a modern naval dockyard in Gibraltar.
Early life
Phillimore was born on 24 May 1822 at Whitehall in Westminster, London the son of Joseph Phillimore later a professor of civil law at Oxford and his wife Elizabeth. He was educated at Westminster before joining the Royal Navy College at Portsmouth.
Naval career
Phillimore joined the Royal Navy in 1835.[http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=1024 Wiliam Loney RN] He served in the Carlist Wars and in the First Opium War.[http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/archive/catalogue/record.cfm?ID=PHL National Maritime Museum] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609022929/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/archive/catalogue/record.cfm?ID=PHL |date=9 June 2011 }} Promoted Commander in 1852, he was given command of HMS Medea in 1853 and, promoted Captain in 1855, he commanded HMS Curacoa and then HMS Defence.
He was appointed Senior officer Jamaica Division in 1868 and in charge of Jamaica Dockyard. Then Senior officer at Gibraltar in 1869 when he would have stayed in The Mount (Gibraltar). In 1871 he made the proposal that a new naval dockyard should be constructed in Gibraltar. Phillimore's scheme lied dormant in the Admiralty for 22 years before it was put to Parliament in 1895. The idea was to take five years and just under £1.5m pounds. In 1896 the scheme was further extended with the creation of new moles and three dry docks and a new budget of £4.5m pounds. The transformation was large and the government were still passing enabling legislation in 1905.{{cite book|last=Finlayson|first=Darren Fa & Clive|title=The fortifications of Gibraltar : 1068–1945|year=2006|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=9781846030161|page=40|edition=1. publ. in Great Britain.}} Today the docks are known as Gibdock.
Phillimore became Second-in-command of the Channel Squadron in January 1876 and Superintendent of the Royal Naval Reserve in November 1876. Promoted Admiral in October 1884, he was made Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in December 1884. He retired in 1887.
He died at his home at Shedfield House near Botley, Hampshire on 25 November 1897.[https://www.pdavis.nl/ShowObit.php?id=1024 The following obituary for Augustus Phillimore appeared in the Times newspaper] Retrieved 8/5/21.
Family
In 1864 he married Harriet Eleanor Fortescue, daughter of George Fortescue {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}; they had six sons and one daughter:{{Cite web |url=http://217.169.56.135/view/article/35510 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |access-date=21 August 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701101346/http://217.169.56.135/view/article/35510 |archive-date=1 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}
- Adm. Sir Richard Fortescue Phillimore (1864–1940), Royal Navy Officer{{Cite ODNB|id=35510|title=Phillimore, Sir Richard Fortescue|date = 5 January 2012}}
- George Grenville Phillimore (1867–1925), barrister and legal scholar{{cite journal|last=Bellot|first=Hugh H. L.|year=1925|title=In Memoriam: George Grenville Phillimore|journal=Transactions of the Grotius Society|volume=11|pages=lix-lxiii|jstor=742827}}
- Violet Elizabeth Annie Phillimore (1869–1960), married John Willis Fleming
- Charles Augustus Phillimore (1871–1949), civil servant{{cite web|website=The National Archives|title=Charles Augustus Phillimore 1871–1949|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/fed953ab-ad5f-4d20-8b66-3a71eb9e855e|access-date=19 September 2023}}
- John Swinnerton Phillimore (1873–1926), classical scholar and poet{{Cite ODNB|id=35509|title=Phillimore, John Swinnerton|date = 23 September 2004}}
- Capt. Valentine Egerton Bagot Phillimore (1875–1945), Royal Navy Officer{{cite web|website=The Dreadnought Project|title=Valentine Egerton Bagot Phillimore|url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Valentine_Egerton_Bagot_Phillimore|access-date=19 September 2023}}
- Rev. Edward Granville Phillimore (1876–1959), Vicar of St Mary's Church, Dorchester
See also
- {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Phillimore, Augustus |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=John Murray}}
References
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{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth | years=1884–1887 | before=Sir William Stewart| after=Lord John Hay}}
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Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:Military personnel from Westminster
Category:People educated at Westminster School, London