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Mahomet Thomas Phillips (1876-1943)

There is so much of his work in churches, chapels and schools all over the world that one could say of him what was said of Wren - ‘Those who seek his monument, look around’. (Laurence Tebbutt, appreciation of Mahomet Thomas Phillips in the Bowman Deposit, Lincolnshire County Archives)

Background and early life

Mahomet Thomas Phillips was born on 1 June 1876 in the settlement of Banana at the mouth of the Congo River. [reference needed: Daffurn] He was one of four children born to English trader Richard Cobden Phillips and a black woman from Cabinda, Nené Bassa, also known as Menina Barros. [reference needed: Daffurn]

Phillips senior had arrived on the Congo in the early 1870s and stayed for around 16 years. He worked as a factor for Hatton & Cookson of Liverpool, a company that specialised in the palm oil trade in Gabon and the Congo [reference needed: Dennett, Anstey] The company had factories, or trading stations, at Cabinda, Banana and up the river at Punta de Lenha. During his time at Banana, Phillips became acquainted with the Welsh-American journalist and explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. It is believed that he entertained Stanley, in search of the missionary and explorer, David Livingstone. Stanley had undertaken an expedition in 1869-1871, in search of the missionary and explorer, David Livingstone. He embarked on a second expedition in 1874 and returned in 1879, with the financial backing of King Leopold III of Belgium. Phillips took two photographs of Stanley, which are in the National Portrait Gallery. [reference needed: National Portrait Gallery; Daffurn] These probably date from 1874.

Nené Barros probably belonged to one of the wealthiest and most powerful families at Cabinda, the Franques. [reference needed: Martin] A man named Kokelo was the founder of the family fortune in the late 1700s. He had been the servant of a French slave trader who died at Cabinda, leaving his possessions to Kokelo, who named himself Franque Kokelo in honour of his benefactor. Kokelo used his connections to engage in the slave trade on his own account. He sent his son, Francisco (born c.1777), to Brazil to be educated. He was baptised as a Catholic, learned to read and write Portuguese and adopted Portuguese clothing. On his return to Cabinda, Francisco became the principal African supplier of enslaved people to Manuel Pinto de Fonseca, the leading Rio de Janeiro trader. He made several later visits to Brazil and was member of a delegation to the exiled Portuguese court in 1812, to promote trade with Cabinda. He imported Brazilian tutors for his own sons, one of whom was called Joao. According to letters held in the Richard Cobden Phillips papers at the Royal Geographical Society, Nené was most likely one of Joao’s daughters.

Mahomet and his brother Paul were sent to a mission school at Mukinvika, on the south side of the River Congo. Two of the missionaries there were I.J. White and Arthur Billington. [reference needed: Entry on Billington] This was certainly a momentous time to grow up on the Congo River. From the late 1870s, the Phillips family witnessed the intensifying colonial conflicts in the region between the British, Portuguese, Dutch, Belgians, French and Germans, in what became known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’. There were gunboat battles along the river as rivals vied for control of territory and resources; the culmination was the Treaty of Berlin of 1884, according to which European imperial powers carved up most of Africa between themselves. The lower Congo region was divided between Belgium and Portugal and the British were forced out. Hatton and Cookson and other British traders relocated their interests further north, along the West African coast.

[Reference needed: Dennett]

Coinciding with these events, the relationship between Richard Cobden Phillips and Nené Bassa seems to have broken down. Two of their children, Mahomet and Nené, were sent to England, while Sara and Paul remained with their mother. Richard himself was back in England by 1888. In that year, he presented a paper at the Royal Anthropological Institution; he aspired to be recognised as an authority on the indigenous people of West Central Africa. [Reference needed: Phillips, R.C.] He had some other contributions published in British newspapers and corresponded with several German and British geographical and anthropological societies.

Training in the UK

According to the 1891 census, Mahomet Thomas Phillips was living in Camp Street, Broughton, Salford with his father and cousins, Paul and Ernest Harrison. Richard Cobden Phillips was listed as the head of the household and his profession was given as photographer. He died in 1912. (Reference needed: Find My Past] Mahomet’s sister Nené is listed in the 1901 census as a student in Southport, in the Ormskirk registration district. She was a boarder at Portland Street. Her name is transcribed as Ada Nina Phillips. She married in 1907 and settled at New Earswick, York, a model village founded by chocolate manufacturer and philanthropist Joseph Rowntree.

Mahomet attended the Manchester School of Arts, studying textile design under the eminent decorative artist, Walter Crane. Crane taught him for three years, and advised to him to continue his creative career in sculpture. [reference needed: Obituary] Mahomet’s uncle, John Searle Raglan Phillips, later the editor of the Yorkshire Post, introduced him to George Walter Milburn, a well-known sculptor in York. [reference needed: Obituary] Between 1896 and 1909, Mahomet studied under Milburn and at the York School of Art. [Reference needed: Yorkshire Gazette, Yorkshire Herald, Driffield Times] A fellow pupil was W.P. Horridge, who would become head of the carving department at E. Bowman & Sons in Stamford and would later bring Mahomet to Bowman.[reference needed: Obituary]

While at York, Mahomet demonstrated a sporting prowess. He was a three times rowing champion, played football for the Ebor Wanderers and excelled at boxing, wrestling and ju jitsu. [ref needed: obituary] He shared this interest in combat sports with his cousin Ernest Harrison, who was a black belt in Kodokan judo and one of the first westerners to write about Japanese martial arts, publishing a number of guides on judo and karate. (reference needed: JCS the great enablers]

During this time, Mahomet also met his wife, Mary Ann Morley. She was born in Heworth, York, in 1875 to Thomas and Jane Morley. Her father was a boot maker. Mahomet and Mary married in 1899 and had three children; Nene Doris (b.1900), Lancelot Barros (1902) and Francisco Morley (1904). Around 1910-11, the family moved to 11 York Villas, Dowsett Road, Tottenham, London. They are listed there in the 1911 census. He studied at the Polytechnic and London County Council School of Art and became a member of the Polytechnic sketching club.

Career

By 1916, the family had moved to the Peterborough area. [ref needed: Peterborough Express] Mahomet worked on a number of projects independently and for companies such as J. Thompson & Sons of Peterborough. An early church carving (rood screen and figures) was for St Chad’s Church, Dunholme in Lincolnshire. [ref: Pevsner] Another was the Edith Cavell memorial tablet in Peterborough Cathedral, dedicated in 1916 [reference

needed: IWM (Peterborough Cathedral)] This was of course during the First World War and in 1916, Mahomet was conscripted. The upper age limit for conscription was 41; as he was nearing this age, he appealed - but lost. [ref needed: Peterborough Express] He served in the Royal Field Artillery as a signaller and attained the rank of corporal; his medal card is held at The National Archives.

Following the war, Mahomet returned to sculpting on projects with a number of companies. For Maxey & Sons, he sculpted the figures on the war memorial in the Market Square in Sleaford, unveiled in 1922 (and during which commission he had an accident to his wrist and could not work). [reference needed: Sleaford Gazette and South Lincolnshire Advertiser] The following year he was working on grotesques for the parapet of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, including a falcon on the north side and a unicorn on the south side. Other work from the early 1920s includes the Hereford War Memorial (1922) and a reredos for the Anglican Cathedral of St John the Baptist, St John's, Newfoundland (1923). His surviving day book lists the hours he and his son, Lancelot Barros Phillips, worked week by week. Mahomet would work up to 70 hours a week. His son would work up to 44 hours a week. The only breaks taken were for religious holidays such as Christmas Day. The work on the reredos for St John’s Newfoundland alone took Mahomet 1,543 hours over 34 weeks, plus 1,236 hours by Lancelot. [Ref needed: Day Book]

He had also started to work for Bowman & Sons in Stamford, having been invited there by W.P. Horridge, whom he had met at art school in York. [reference needed: Daffurn] Bowman was a highly respected and prolific company specialising in church architecture and fittings, as well as civil and private projects. Mahomet worked with leading architects and designers, including Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Sir Charles Nicholson and Wilfred Bond. An early work for Bowman was the Grantham War Memorial, in the churchyard of St Wulfram’s, unveiled in November 1920. [reference needed: IWM (Grantham St Wulfram’s)] He became head of sculpting at Bowman and continued to work at the company until his death. During the Second World War, he served in the Civil Defence First Aid and the Home Guard. [reference needed: Obituary]

Mahomet died on 7 June 1943. At his funeral service, the rector of St. George’s in Stamford, Rev Rees-Jones said that his three greatest characteristics were his great ability, his extreme humility and his keen love of little children.[reference needed: Obituary] He and Mary Ann, who died on 17 November 1954, are buried together in Stamford cemetery. Their headstone is an unfinished limestone block, seemingly waiting for a sculptor to work on it. Only the side bearing the inscription has been worked smooth. The headstone is surmounted by a disc-shaped sundial.

Verified works

His work, for churches, cathedrals and war memorials, is hidden in plain sight, in so many places: sculptures for It was made in a Gothic revival style that blends seamlessly into its surroundings in churches, churchyards and public squares. The following is a list of his known work.