ABSTRACT
Phillips became a fellow o f the Royal Society o f London in 1834, a move which was suggested to him the previous September by John Lubbock, then its treasurer, who had been impressed by Phillips at the meeting o f the BAAS that year. Initially Phillips was deterred by the high cost o f being FRS, which at maximum was £50 (£10 entrance fee, £40 life subscription), but when Lubbock persisted in wishing to propose him he agreed to the financial ordeal o f spending £14 (entrance £10, £4 annual subscription). In November he approached Sedgwick and Murchison to support Lubbock’s proposal. Phillips’ appointment as professor o f geology at King’s College, London, in January 1834 highlighted the importance o f his being FRS, to which he was elected on 10 April 1834 just eleven days before he gave his first lecture at King’s. O f his thirteen supporters, eight were leading geologists, most o f whom also knew him well through the British Association (Sedgwick, Murchison, Buckland, Greenough, De la Beche, Daubeny, John Taylor, William Clift). Three non-geologists knew him only through the British Association (John Gray, Peacock, Powell). The other two supporters were professors at University College, London, who had been impressed by Phillips’ lectures there in 1831 (Lindley, Turner).1 For many years Phillips took little part in Royal Society affairs but was fast off the mark in putting the three magic letters, FRS, behind his name on the title pages o f his books and on advertisements for his lectures. At the age o f thirty-three the orphan who had never attended a university was doing well: he was professor Phillips, FRS, FGS.
