Sir George Philips, 1st Baronet (24 March 1766 – 3 October 1847)[1] was an English textile industrialist and politician.
[2] Philips came from an old Staffordshire family that had held manors there since the reign of Edward VI of England, and were seated at Heath House in the same county since the early seventeenth century, that continued to be lived in by his cousins.
George's father, Thomas Philips (1728–1811) of Sedgley, Lancashire, established a cotton manufacturing company in Manchester.
[5] As his wealth grew (Sydney Smith teasingly nicknamed him "King Cotton"), Philips left the family home in Manchester, Sedgley Hall, and built Weston House in Warwickshire.
[6][7] Under the influence of Thomas Cooper, Philips wrote a pamphlet The Necessity of a Speedy and Effectual Reform in Parliament, published 28 January 1793.