Cyril Philips

Sir Cyril Henry Philips (27 December 1912 Worcester – 29 December 2005 Swanage, Dorset), knighted in 1974, was a noted historian and academic director.

His father had worked as an engine driver on the Indian railways, and Philips in the 1920s spent some years in Bihar.

He was educated first at Rock Ferry High School, and in 1931 he attended the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1934 with a first-class degree in history.

He then attended the School of Oriental Studies in London where he wrote a history thesis on the East India Company, in 1940 published as "The East India Company: 1784–1834". The Times described it in his obituary as "a rich Namier-like analysis of the various interests in the court of directors as well as a study of its operations".

During the Second World War, he served in the Army Education Corps, ending the war as a lieutenant colonel.

He joined the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and soon became professor and head of the history department.

In 1956 he became director of SOAS, succeeding Sir Ralph Turner, where he "...virtually remade the school..." in the following years.

From 1972-76 he was appointed vice chancellor of the University of London, where he was involved in controversial reforms which shortened his tenure.

Philips chaired a Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure into the police and criminal evidence system, the police complaints board and review of the Prevention of Terrorism Act during the years 1978 to 1981. Its terms of reference were to examine, having regard both to the interests of the community in bringing offenders to justice and to the rights and liberties of persons suspected or accused of crime, and taking into account also the need for the efficient and economical use of resources, whether changes are needed in England and Wales in:

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