PHILIPPS, Hector (d. 1693), of The Priory, Cardigan.

With his elder brother James, Hector Philipps had been active in local administration in south Wales under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. Succession to the family estate, which brought with it control of the county borough and thus a predominant influence in the Cardigan Boroughs constituency, was followed in due course by election to the first Exclusion Parliament, when he was marked as ‘honest’ by Shaftesbury and voted for the Exclusion bill. His interest proved strong enough for him to retain the seat for the rest of his life. Dropped from the commission of the peace in 1687, and pricked as sheriff in January 1688 to prevent him standing for James II’s projected Parliament, he refused his consent to the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws. A list of the vote of 18 Feb. 1689 on the transfer of the crown, compiled by Lord Ailesbury (Thomas Bruce†), surprisingly placed him with those who agreed with the Lords on the vacancy of the throne, but Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) still marked him as a Whig in his analysis of the new House of Commons in March 1690. A year later Robert Harley* classed him with the supporters of the Court. He was no more active in this Parliament, however, than he had been in the Convention. Philipps died on 18 Mar. 1693, presumably in London, and was buried, according to a contemporary newsletter, ‘in St. Martin’s church’. Cardigan Priory passed to the Pryses of Gogerddan, who in turn became the leading power in Cardigan Boroughs.1 A. H. Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales, 150; W. R. Williams, Old Wales, i. 316; Folger Shakespeare Lib. Newdigate newsletter 21 Mar. 1693; DWB, 754.