The eldest son of Joseph Phillimore, vicar of Orton on the Hill, Leicestershire, by Mary, daughter of John Machin of Kensington, was born on 14 September 1775.
On 17 March 1817 he was returned to parliament in the Grenville interest for the borough of St Mawes, Cornwall, vacant by the death of his friend Francis Horner; he continued to represent it until the dissolution of 2 June 1826.
He was placed on the board of control for India upon its reconstitution on 8 February 1822, and held office until the fall of Lord Goderich's administration in January 1828.
8vo; and 'Reports of Cases argued and determined in the Arches and Prerogative Courts of Canterbury,' containing the judgments of Sir George Lee, London, 1832–3, 3 vols.
His 'Speeches delivered in the Sheldon Theatre, at the Commemoration holden on the 10th, 11th, and 13 June 1834, at which the Duke of Wellington presided in Person,' were printed at Oxford the same year.
Richard Phillimore, then a student at Christ Church, drowned in June 1843 while swimming in the river Thames at Sandford Lock – a notoriously dangerous spot.