Family and Education

b. c.1649, s. of William Phippard of Poole, mariner.  m. Mary (d. 1725), 3s. 1da.  suc. fa. 1695; kntd. 8 Feb. 1699.1

Offices Held

Mayor, Poole 1697–8, 1703–4, 1704–5.2

Biography

Phippard’s father was a seaman, presumably in the merchant service, who had settled at Poole. Phippard himself became a merchant and shipowner, profiting from the war by hiring out ships to the commissioners of transport. Elected mayor in 1697, he was returned for Parliament the following year while still holding this office. A Whig, he was listed as a member of the Court party in September 1698, though this classification was subsequently queried. On 18 Jan. 1699 he voted against the disbanding bill. He was granted leave of absence for six weeks on 17 Feb., which was extended on 23 Mar. In the next session, on 21 Dec., he was granted a further three weeks’ leave but had returned by 9 Feb. 1700, when he petitioned for a prize ship which he had bought to be permitted to trade freely to the plantations. He was re-elected at both elections in 1701, and in an analysis of December 1701 Robert Harley* classed him as a Whig. On 30 Mar. 1702 he obtained another ten days of parliamentary leave.

Re-elected without opposition in 1702, Phippard sought yet further leave of absence on 12 Jan. 1703, this time for three weeks. He had returned to the House by 13 Feb., when he voted in favour of agreeing with the Lords’ amendments to the bill for extending the time for taking the oath of abjuration. Listed as a probable opponent of the Tack, he did not vote for it on 28 Nov. 1704. Earlier in that year there had been some complaints concerning his victualling of the transport ships at Portsmouth. William Giffard*, the resident commissioner of the navy, was instructed to conduct an inquiry, but no action was taken and Phippard’s ships continued to be employed in the transport service. After his re-election in 1705, when he was classed as ‘Low Church’, Phippard voted for the Court candidate for Speaker on 25 Oct. On 18 Feb. 1706 he voted with the Court over the regency bill. According to Sir John Cropley, 2nd Bt.*, writing in December 1707 Phippard was a loyal supporter of the Junto. Classed as a Whig in early 1708, he lost his seat at the subsequent general election. He returned to the House in 1710, however, and was classed as a Whig in the ‘Hanover list’. Apart from his inclusion in the list of ‘worthy patriots’ who exposed the mismanagements of the previous administration (which may simply be an error), nothing further is known of Phippard’s political activities. He did not stand at the 1713 election, nor subsequently. He died, aged 73, on 23 Jan. 1723.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Hutchins, Dorset, i. 47–48.
• 2. Ibid. 34.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1703–4, pp. 562, 565; PRO 30/24/356–7; Hutchins, 48.