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Philip Philips
1st Mayor of Auckland City
In office 1871–1874
Succeeded by	Henry Isaacs
Personal details
Born	Philip Aaron Philips (1831-06-11)11 June 1831 Brighton, England
Died	3 June 1913(1913-06-03) (aged 81) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Resting place	Rookwood Cemetery
Spouse	Annie Myers

Philip Aaron Philips (11 June 1831 – 3 June 1913) was a New Zealand politician who served as the first mayor of Auckland City. He held the office from 1871 to 1874 and immediately prior to that, he was chairman of the City Board. He was a member of the Auckland Provincial Council and the Auckland Harbour Board.

Early life and family

Philips was born in Brighton, England, on 11 June 1831, into a Jewish family. He worked in a wholesale firm in London from 1845 to 1848. He then emigrated to New Zealand and arrived in Auckland in August 1848. After a year, he built himself a store in Vulcan Lane off Queen Street. After some years, he fell ill and went to Sydney for recovery. There, he married Annie Myers, the daughter of Israel and Esther Myers. The couple returned to Auckland and Philips opened a second hardware store; this one in lower Queen Street. He was bankrupted in the post-war economic bust following the New Zealand Wars.

His wife died on 18 February 1888 at age 52. She was buried in the Jewish part of Symonds Street Cemetery. There was a large attendance at her funeral, with "nearly every member of the Jewish community" present, plus the mayor (Albert Devore) and many of the city councillors.

Municipal career

Philips became politically active in 1869. He stood for election to the city board (the predecessor of the municipal council) on 23 June 1869 but withdrew on election day. At the next meeting of the City Board, he was proposed as the board's chairman (chairmen did not necessarily have to be board members) but he was not elected. On 26 November 1869, he was one of three members elected to the sixth Auckland Provincial Council in the Auckland East electorate (the other two were Henry Ellis and William John Hurst). Philips remained a member of the provincial council until 5 March 1875. Within days of getting elected to the provincial council, the City Board needed to elect another chairman and this time, Philips was elected unanimously to that position on 16 December 1869. In May 1871, Auckland was gazetted a borough council and the legislation commuted the City Board representatives to become the inaugural councillors. Philips, who was still chairman at that point, was unanimously elected by his fellow councillors as inaugural mayor and held this office until 1874. His successor, Henry Isaacs, was also a Jewish merchant. Philips was a member of the Auckland Harbour Board.

When Philips retired from the mayoralty, he became the city's town clerk and remained in that role until 1899.

Retirement

By May 1901, Philips had moved to Sydney. He died at the Sydney Sanitarium in Wahroonga in June 1913.

References

1. ^ "Untitled". Auckland Star. Vol. XXXII, no. 121. 23 May 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
2. "Mr. P. A. Philips". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. XVIII, no. 6093. 28 May 1881. p. 6. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
3. "Deaths". Auckland Star. Vol. XIX, no. 41. 18 February 1888. p. 8. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
4. "The New Zealand Herald". Vol. XXV, no. 8981. 20 February 1888. p. 4. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
5. "City Board elections". Daily Southern Cross. Vol. XXV, no. 3723. 24 June 1869. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
6. "City Board elections". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. VI, no. 1744. 24 June 1869. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
7. "City Board". Daily Southern Cross. Vol. XXV, no. 3733. 6 July 1869. p. 6. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
8. "The polling for City East". Daily Southern Cross. Vol. XXV, no. 3830. 27 November 1869. p. 5. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
9. Scholefield, Guy (1950) . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 185.
10. "City Board". Daily Southern Cross. Vol. XXV, no. 3845. 17 December 1869. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
11. "The Evening Star". Auckland Star. Vol. II, no. 425. 22 May 1871. p. 2. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
12. "First meeting of the new Corporation". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. VIII, no. 2285. 23 May 1871. p. 3. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
13. "Death of Mr P. A. Philips". Auckland Star. Vol. XLIV, no. 136. 9 June 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
14. "The Town Clerk". Auckland Star. Vol. XXX, no. 70. 24 March 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
15. "Presentation to Mr P. A. Philips". Auckland Star. Vol. XXX, no. 189. 11 August 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
16. "Deaths". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 June 1913. p. 12. Retrieved 6 April 2020.

v t e Mayors of Auckland City
Mayors	Philip Philips Henry Isaacs Frederick Prime Benjamin Tonks William Hurst Henry Brett Thomas Peacock James Clark William Waddel Albert Devore John Upton William Crowther James Job Holland Abraham Boardman Peter Dignan David Goldie John Logan Campbell Alfred Kidd Edwin Mitchelson Arthur Myers Charles Grey Lemuel Bagnall James Parr James Gunson George Baildon George Hutchison Ernest Davis John Allum John Luxford Tom Ashby Keith Buttle Dove-Myer Robinson Roy McElroy Dove-Myer Robinson Colin Kay Catherine Tizard Les Mills Christine Fletcher John Banks Dick Hubbard John Banks
Mayoral elections	Annual term 1871† 1872† 1873† 1874† 1875 1876 1877† 1878 1879† 1880† 1881† 1882† 1883† 1884† 1885† 1886† 1887† 1888† 1889† 1890† 1891† 1892† 1893† 1894† 1895† 1896† 1897† 1898 1899† 1900† 1901 1902† 1903 1904† 1905 1906 1907 1908† 1909† 1910 1911† 1912 1913† 1914† Biennial term 1915 1917 1919† 1921† 1923† 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 Triennial term 1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1957‡ 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1990‡ 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007
Local elections	1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 by-elections
† Elected unopposed ‡ By-election

• 1831 births
• 1913 deaths
• Mayors of Auckland
• 19th-century New Zealand people
• Jewish mayors
• Jewish New Zealand politicians
• Members of the Auckland Provincial Council
• Auckland Harbour Board members
• Burials at Rookwood Cemetery
• New Zealand emigrants to Australia
• British emigrants