Born in Summertown, on 28 July 1864, Stephen Phillips was the son of a Precentor of Peterborough Cathedral (also named Stephen) and Agatha, née Dockray, a distant relative of the Wordsworths. On leaving school in 1883, Phillips initially read for the civil service in London with W. B. Scoones, where he met literary critic John Churton Collins (then an employee of Scoones), who encouraged Phillips to publish his poetry. Although this resulted in the privately published
Orestes and Other Poems(1884), Phillips initially demonstrated a desire to forge a career as an actor. In 1885, he joined the touring company of his cousin, Frank Benson, where, during a production of
The Tempest, he met the dancer May Lidyard. When the couple married in 1892, they retired from the stage and Phillips…
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Citation: Sutherland, Lucie. "Stephen Phillips". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 February 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3557, accessed 26 November 2024.]
