Thomas William Phillipson, 1944 - 1945

Born at Ryton, Tyne and Wear, Phillipson won schoolboy honours at Association Football, including three international caps. During the First World War he served with the Yorkshire Light Infantry and after demobilisation began his professional football career with Newcastle United Football Club, before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1923. Retiring from football in 1931, he concentrated on running a chain of tobacconists' shops, an enterprise he had started some years earlier. He was elected to Wolverhampton Council in 1933 as an Independent representative for St James' Ward. He served on the Education, Civic Hall and Baths, Markets, Transport, Watch and Youth Committees. During his time on the Council, Phillipson became a member of Wolverhampton Sportsmen Association Ltd, Vice-chairman of the Civil Defence Sports Association, Chairman of the Staffordshire and Salop (Shropshire) Air Training Corps Sports Association, and additionally played for Wolverhampton Cricket Club. Phillipson's associations with societies and groups continued to grow and he became the Chairman of the Express & Star Comforts Fund Committee, President of the South Staffordshire Cricket League, Chairman of Wolverhampton and District Boy Scouts Local Association, and the Chairman of Wolverhampton's Old People's Welfare Committee. After becoming Mayor in 1944, his first civic duty was to greet and welcome a representative party from HMS Newfoundland, Wolverhampton's adopted cruiser, at which Captain Ravenhill presented the town with a replica of the ship's crest. In May 1945 Phillipson led the people of Wolverhampton in the celebration for VE Day, with a thanksgiving service at the Molineux Ground. On the 14th August 1945, Phillipson again led the townspeople in the celebration for VJ Day (Victory in Japan). He resigned from the council in 1957.

GW Jones 1969 Borough Politics a Study of Wolverhampton Borough Council 1888-1964. (Macmillan, London) pp. 116n, 221, 263.
Notes re (DX-173/6)
Photograph in Memories of Molineux (L79633)