Henry Phillpotts - Politics

Politics

Phillpotts was an energetic supporter of the Tory party, even when it acted contrary to his views in passing the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 In the House of Lords, Phillpotts opposed the 1832 Reform Bill and most other Whig reforms. He was a high-church reformer in his own diocese, aiming to increase the prestige, efficiency and orthodoxy of the church organisation. He was well known for using litigation to achieve his aims and was an earnest administrator, for example, fighting hard to raise the minimum salary for curates in his Diocese to £50, seeking to increase the rights of the poor under the Poor Laws and to ease the plight of children employed in coal-mines and as chimney-sweeps.