Phillippo, George
b. 1833
d. 1916-02-16
George Phillippo was born in 1833 in St. Catherine, Jamaica -- a small Spanish Town. Phillippo is most known for being the third Attorney-General of British Columbia.1 He was educated in England where he trained as a barrister. In 1862, he was called to the Bar but he decided not to practice in England and rather returned to Jamaica.2 Although Phillippo practiced law in Jamaica, he did later join the British Government, taking different positions in different parts of the world. In 1870, Phillippo was appointed Attorney-General of British Columbia, succeeding Henry Crease. In his position, Phillippo represented the crown in the courts, organized the justice system and worked as a legal advisor.3 He would officially swear into his position on 19 May 1870.4
On 22 December 1870, Musgrave appointed Phillippo as a member of the Executive Council.5 After just one year as Attorney-General, on 3 June 1871, Phillippo accepted the commission to become Puisne Judge in British Guinea, thus resigning from his current position in British Columbia.6 Throughout his legal career, Phillippo served in various countries throughout the world. After his resignation as Puisne Judge in British Guinea in 1872, he became the Puisne Judge of the Straits Settlements, then Chief Justice of Gibraltar in the late 1870s, and eventually the Chief Justice of Hong Kong from 1882-1888.7 Phillippo was knighted in 1882. He retired from the Colonial Service on 5 October 1888. After his retirement, he was appointed as the British high consul at Geneva in 1897, which he held until 1910.8 Phillippo lived the rest of his life out of the public arena, dying on 16 February 1914 in Geneva.
  • 1. British Columbia, Colony, Attorney General, BC Archives Collections Search.
  • 2. Sir George Phillippo, Burke's Peerage: Great War Edition, 1906.
  • 3. British Columbia, Colony, Attorney General.
  • 4. BC Archives, George Phillippo, File GR-1372.109.1359.
  • 5. Musgrave to Wodehouse, 22 December 1870, 1207, CO 60/41, 316.
  • 6. Wodehouse to Musgrave, 3 June 1871, NAC, 141.
  • 7. James William Norton-Kyshe, History of the Laws and Courts of Hongkong, (London, 1898), 347 ; La Hacienda, Gwulo: Old Hong Kong.
  • 8. Sir George Phillippo, Burke's Peerage.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Crease, Henry

Musgrave, Anthony

Places in this document

British Columbia

Gibralter

Hong Kong

Jamaica