Historian finds hero’s birthplace

A historian turned detective to unearth the birthplace of a Black Country war hero who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

A blue plaque was installed at Holyhead House, in Hill Top, earlier this year to mark the home of Captain Robert Edwin Phillips.

Cpt Phillips was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917 for saving the life of his commanding officer while serving in Mesopotamia – which is now Iraq.   

Cpt Phillips is the only resident of Sandwell to have been awarded the medal – of which just 1,356 have been presented in the last 150 years.

Wednesbury residents wanted to mark the birthplace of Cpt Phillips so campaigned for a plaque to be put up at Holyhead House, where he lived and was thought to have been born.

But after delving into the life-story of Cpt Phillips, Great Bridge-based historian Terry Price unearthed evidence the hero had actually been born elsewhere.

The captain’s birth certificate reveals his address to have been Queen Street, Hill Top rather than Holyhead House.

The certificate shows Cpt Phillips was born to parents Elizabeth Phillips, formerly Hudson, and Alfred Phillips a roll turner at Charles Akrill & Co in Golds Green, West Bromwich, on April 11, 1895.

Mr Price’s research showed that the following year the family moved into next door-but-one where they stayed for the next 11 years.

Queen Street no longer exists after the properties were bulldozed for a new development. 

Holyhead House is thought to have been built sometime in 1905. The roll from 1907 shows Alfred Phillips residing at Holyhead House with Robert, who would by then have been 12.

Mr Price said, despite Holyhead House not being the actual birthplace of Cpt Phillips, it was still the best place for the plaque to be installed.