John Phillp, whose sketches and watercolours
so vividly capture Soho and its surroundings, was born in 1788.
He was reputedly the illegitimate son of Matthew Boulton and Elizabeth
Fletcher of Falmouth in Cornwall. There is no direct evidence that
Boulton was his father, but there are similarities in the two men's
features.
Right: Sketch of Matthew
Boulton’s boat
on Soho Pool, by John Phillp, 1790 |
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Phillp came to Soho as an apprentice in the early 1790s, and he worked
for Boulton as an engraver and designer of coins, medals and silverware.
He was accommodated at Soho House. In his spare time he sketched the
Soho landscape and some of the people and buildings that he saw around
him. He was also a Lieutenant in the Handsworth Militia. He died aged
27, in 1815.
Left: Watercolour of the interior of
Boulton’s Hermitage
in the grounds of Soho House, by John Phillp, 1799 |
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Phillp's work is one of the few visual records of the landscape
and buildings around Soho in the late 18th century. His drawings
depict scenery very different to that of Handsworth today, and help
to illustrate the dramatic changes that this area of Birmingham
has undergone.
| Right: Looking over the Soho landscape
towards Thornhill, with the Soho stables to the left, by John
Phillp, nd |
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Soho House Museum holds an album of Phillp’s drawings and some
loose sketches, but he had several descendants so it is still possible
that there is more of his unique work waiting to be discovered. |
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