His grandfather Robert Kemp Philp (1769–1850), a Wesleyan and then Unitarian minister of Falmouth, was one of the earliest supporters of ragged schools and city missions.
He joined the Chartist movement, and edited a paper called The Regenerator, and, with Henry Vincent, The National Vindicator, a Bath weekly newspaper, which appeared from 1838 to 1842.
As a result, Philp was ousted from the Chartist committee by the "physical force" group, led by Feargus O'Connor.
He was a member of the national convention which sat in London from 12 April 1842, and is credited with having drawn up the monster petition, signed by 3,300,000 persons, and presented on 2 May, in favour of the confirmation of the charter.
[1] In 1845 Philp settled in Great New Street, Fetter Lane, London, as a publisher, and was sub-editor of the People's Journal from 1846 to 1848.
[1] Philp died at 21 Claremont Square, Islington, on 30 November 1882, aged 64, and was buried in a common grave (no.25301) on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery[citation needed].
By 1900 it had sold almost 1.3 million and remained in print until 1973[2] A supplement, The Interview, appeared in 1856; republished as A Journey of Discovery all round our House, London, 1867.
He also published a History of Progress in Great Britain, in sixpenny monthly parts, June 1859 to July 1860, which was reissued in two volumes (1859–60).