Captain Henry Phillpotts

A carte-de-visite portrait of the Captain Henry Phillpotts of the Bengal Staff Corps and the 15th Native Infantry, formerly of the 29th Regiment of Foot.

Born on 11 July 1829, he was baptised at Old St Pancras Church on 8 August 1829. His parents were Thomas Phillpotts, a younger brother of Henry Phillpotts, later Bishop of Exeter, and Mary Field Phillpotts née Hodgson. His father, a West India merchant, lived in Jamaica between 1805 and 1829, where he owned numerous slaves.

In 1849 Henry enlisted in the Bengal Infantry; in 1860 he joined the Bengal Staff Corps as Acting Political Agent to the Governor of Rajputana.

At Walcot Church in Bath on 7 January 1862, while on sick leave in England, he married Adelaide Matilda Sophia Waters, fourth daughter of George Jenkins Waters, formerly of the Madras Civil Service. Their first son, Eden Phillpotts, later an author, poet and dramatist, was born at Mount Abu in Rajasthan on 4 November 1862. Two more sons followed in swift succession.

Captain Henry Phillpotts died, aged only 35, on 1 June 1865 'after a short illness, at Deolee, Rajpootana' (Morning Advertiser, 13 July 1865). His wife and three young sons returned to England and settled at Plymouth in Devon.

[Some of the above information was kindly supplied by Peter Wingfield-Digby.]

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London.