PHILLIPS Herbert William

Herbert Phillips was born in 1886 in Worcester, the son of Robert and Helena Phillips (nee Norris) who had married in London in 1865.  The couple had 11 children, 10 of whom were still alive in 1911.  Robert was a bricklayer and his children followed a variety of careers including schoolteacher, glove makers, dressmaker, bricklayer, shoemaker and clerk.  In 1901 Herbert had left school and was working as a solicitor’s clerk, by 1911 he was employed as an ironmongers clerk and the family had moved to 68 Astwood Road, Worcester.  Herbert was not eligible for the 1914 or 1915 Star so it is probable that he enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment in 1916 after conscription was introduced.  He was killed in action on 5th October 1918 just a few short weeks before the end of the war.