ABSTRACT
The way of death and burial o f John Phillips, professor of geology in the University o f Oxford and keeper o f the University Museum, showed that he had achieved the ne plus ultra o f distinction. On 23 April 1874 after dinner in All Souls College, Oxford, with his host Mountague Bernard (professor o f international law), and his friends the reverend Francis Leighton (warden o f Ail Souls), and the reverend Charles Williams (principal of Jesus College, Oxford), Phillips stumbled over a mat at the top of a flight o f fifteen stone steps and fell headlong and backwards to the bottom. He suffered instant paralysis, never recovered consciousness, and died the next day. Knowing that in his will Phillips had stipulated that his funeral be held at York, his home for almost thirty years, the vice-chancellor o f the University, the reverend Henry George Liddell, nominated three distinguished Oxonians and close associates o f Phillips to go to York to represent the University. They were the reverend John Griffiths (warden o f Wadham College), Henry Acland (Regius professor o f medicine), and Henry Smith (professor of geometry).
