A reformer, magnate and stud owner

Lionel Phillips came to South Africa with nothing during the gold rush on the Reef, and became a Randlord and philanthropist, writes Graham Jooste.

- Graham Jooste

Lionel Phillips was born in London in 1855, where his father was a trader. He was one of three sons in this lower-middle-class, hard-working family.

Phillips’s early formal education was limited, and at the age of 14, he became a bookkeeper for his father’s business. He soon ventured out on his own and joined a firm of London diamond-sorters. While there he heard of the discovery of diamond deposits at the thriving mining town of Kimberley in South Africa.

After saving up money for the passage to Cape Town, Phillips resigned from his employer and travelled in steerage class to the Cape. He arrived at the Kimberley diamond fields at the age of 20, having walked most of the way there from Cape Town.

Joseph Robinson, the mining magnate, was so impressed with the drive and ability of young Phillips that he immediately appointed him to the mines sorting department, which he later managed.

In his spare time he was editor of his own newspaper, called The Independent.

Phillips was later appointed mine manager, the youngest to date. He was very lucky to survive a fall of about 30m into a diggings and survived with only a few scratches.

MEETING CECIL JOHN RHODES 

Moving about in the correct circles, he met Cecil Rhodes as well as Alfred Beit, who befriended him and offered him a position that he could not refuse. At the age of 34 he relocated to Johannesburg to become a mining consultant at the gold mining concern Corner House for Hermann Eckstein & Co, in which Beit was the majority shareholder.

Phillips was to receive a good yearly income with all expenses paid, and 10% of the profits from managing the firm’s interest in the Nellmapius Syndicate.