The C. T. E. Phillips Collection

Collection of lectures, drafts of lectures, radio broadcasts and related papers made by Charles Thomas Ellis Phillips. Also newspaper cuttings.

The librarian, Charles Thomas Ellis Phillips was born in Cambridge. He received his library training at the Bodleian Library, Oxford (1899), later at Balliol College Library, and also at the Chartered Accountants' Library, Edinburgh. In 1914, he joined the Seaforth Highlanders and later became a commissioned officer. In 1920, he accepted the post of Librarian at Chetham's Library, Manchester, a position he held until his death.

At Chetham's Library, Phillips was responsible for preparing the printed catalogue of the John Ratcliffe Collection; cataloguing the William Assheton Tonge collection of deeds; completing the indexing of the famous Manchester collection of paintings, engravings, and portraits; and for enhancing the utility of the Library to students of Lancashire history. He also taught classes in bibliography at the University of Manchester, and gave many radio broadcasts and lectures to local societies. He served as President of the Manchester and District Library Fellowship (1925). He was a member of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, becoming an Honorary Member (1920), and a councillor (1934-41). He was also a pianist and a cellist, playing the cello in the orchestra of the Heaton Moor Dramatic Society as well as in the Stockport Amateur Orchestra. He died at his home, Norris Hill, Heaton Moor, Manchester, on 5 June 1943, and was survived by his widow, Eva Phillips.

• Manchester Guardian, 7 Jun 1943.
• Obituary, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 56 (1941-2, published 1944), pp. 157-8.

There are no restrictions on access to this collection. Viewing is by prior appointment. Please contact archivist@chethams.org.uk.

Date of acquisition unknown.