Robert Kemp Philp

Robert Kemp Philp (1819–1882) was an English journalist, author, and Chartist.

Born at Falmouth on 14 June 1819, he was son of Henry Philp (1793–1836) of Falmouth. His grandfather Robert Kemp Philp (1769–1850), a Wesleyan and then Unitarian minister of Falmouth, was one of the earliest supporters of ragged schools and city missions.

On leaving school Philp was placed, in 1835, with a printer at Bristol, and then was a newsvendor in Bath, Somerset. For selling a Sunday newspaper, he was fined, and, on refusing to pay, was condemned to the for two hours. He joined the Chartist movement, and edited a paper called The Regenerator, and, with Henry Vincent, The National Vindicator, a Bath weekly newspaper, which appeared from 1838 to 1842. In 1839 Philp began lecturing as a Chartist, of moderate opinions. After the Newport Rising (November 1840) he collected evidence for the defence of John Frost (d. 1877) [q. v.], and was arrested at Newport, Monmouthshire, on suspicion of complicity, but was released on bail. He joined on the executive committee of the Chartists in 1841.

In the spring of 1842 Philp signed the declaration drawn up by Joseph Sturge, and was appointed a delegate to the conference called by Sturge at Birmingham on 27 December 1842. As a result, Philp was ousted from the Chartist committee by the "physical force" group, led by Feargus O'Connor. He was a member of the national convention which sat in London from 12 April 1842, and is credited with having drawn up the monster petition, signed by 3,300,000 persons, and presented on 2 May, in favour of the confirmation of the charter. Philp was a contributor to the The Sentinel from its launch on 7 January 1843.

In 1845 Philp settled in Great New Street, Fetter Lane, London, as a publisher, and was sub-editor of the People's Journal from 1846 to 1848. He published, on his own account, the Family Friend, successively a monthly, fortnightly, and weekly periodical. He acted as editor from 1849 to 1852. It had an enormous sale. Similar serials followed: the Family Tutor (between 1851 and 1853), the Home Companion (from 1852 to 1856), and the Family Treasury (in 1853–4). He also edited Diogenes, a weekly comic paper (1853–4).

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