was very active against the catholics. On one occasion he condemned a man to death ‘simply for entertaining a Jesuit,’ and is said to have declared that, as the law stood, all who were present when mass was celebrated were guilty of felony. He was one of those appointed to examine the ‘gunpowder plot’ conspirators, and in January 1606 opened the indictment against Guy Fawkes. He was also chancellor to Prince Henry. On 2 Dec. 1608 he was granted the reversion of the mastership of the rolls, but did not succeed to the office until January 1611. Yelverton, Coke, and Montagu all spoke highly of his conduct as a judge, though the last admitted that he was ‘over swift in judging.’ On 14 July 1613 he was appointed ranger of all royal forests, parks, and chases in England.
Besides his house in Chancery Lane, and another at Wanstead, Essex, where he entertained the king, Phelips built a large mansion at Montacute, which is still standing, and in the possession of his descendants. He died on 11 Sept. 1614, having married, first, Margaret (d. 28 April 1590), daughter of Robert Newdegate of Newdegate, Surrey, by whom he had two sons, Sir Robert [q. v.] and Francis; secondly, Elizabeth (d. 26 March 1638), daughter of Thomas Pigott of Dodersall, Buckinghamshire. There is a portrait of Phelips at Montacute House.
[Phelips MSS. preserved at Montacute House, and calendared in Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. App.; Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1603–14; Winwood's State Papers, ii. 36, &c.; Commons Journals, passim; Parl. Hist. i. 969, 1045, &c.; State Trials, ii. 164, 1062, 1073, 1079; Official Returns of Members of Parl.; Nichols's Progresses of James I; Coryate's Crudities, passim; Spedding's Life and Letters of Bacon, iv. 57, 240; Dugdale's Origines, p. 218; Foss's Judges of England; Sandford's Genealog. Hist. p. 562; Manning's Speakers; Jardine's Gunpowder Plot, p. 45; Morris's Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, 3rd ser. pp. 451–2; Visitation of Somerset (Harl. Soc.), p. 85; Genealogical Collections of Roman Catholic Families, ed. J. J. Howard, pt. ii. No. iv.; Gardiner's Hist. of England.]
PHELIPS, Sir ROBERT (1586?–1638), parliamentarian, eldest son of Sir Edward Phelips [q. v.], and his first wife Margaret, daughter of Robert Newdegate of Newdegate, Surrey, is said to have been born in 1586. He entered parliament as member for East Looe, Cornwall, in 1603–4, and sat in it till its dissolution on 9 Feb. 1610–11. In 1603 he was knighted with his father. In July 1613 he was travelling in France, and in the same year was granted the next vacancy in the clerkship of the petty bag. In April 1614 he was elected to parliament as member for Saltash, Cornwall, and made some mark by joining in the attack on Richard Neile [q. v.], then bishop of Lincoln, for his speech in the House of Lords reflecting on the commons. In 1615 he went to Spain in attendance on John Digby, afterwards Earl of Bristol [q. v.], who was engaged in negotiating the Spanish match. He kept a diary of his movements for a few days (printed in Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. App. pp. 59–60), and wrote an essay on the negotiation, which is among the manuscripts at Montacute House. Probably, like Digby, he was not favourably disposed towards it.
In 1621 Phelips was returned to parliament as member for Bath, and at once took a prominent part in its proceedings. On 5 Feb. he accused the catholics of rejoicing at Frederick's defeat in Bohemia, and meditating a second ‘gunpowder plot.’ It was on his motion (3 March) that the house turned its attention to the patent for gold and silver thread; he served on the committee appointed to inquire into the matter, and brought up its report, which furnished the main charges against Sir Giles Mompesson [q. v.] (Gardiner, iv. 47). In the same month he served as chairman of the committee to inquire into the charges of bribery brought against Bacon; on the 17th he presented its report in a speech of great force and moderation, and was ordered to lay the evidence before the House of Lords. In May he was one of the first to urge the house to punish Edward Floyd [q. v.] In November he warmly attacked Spain, and proposed to withhold supplies; a few days later he supported the commons' petition against the catholics and the Spanish marriage. For his share in these proceedings he was on 1 Jan. 1622 arrested at Montacute, whither he had retired, and on the 12th imprisoned in the Tower. Here he remained, in spite of his brother's petition, until 10 Aug.
In January 1623–4, when James was induced to summon another parliament, he insisted that Phelips and others should be excluded. Phelips was, however, elected for Somerset, and allowed to take his seat, probably by Buckingham's intercession. He again demanded war with Spain, but came into no open collision with the court. In the first parliament of the new reign Phelips again sat for Somerset, and assumed an attitude of pronounced hostility to Buckingham. In the first days of the session he supported an abortive motion for immediate adjournment, in order to defer the granting of supplies. A few days later he carried a motion that two subsidies only should be granted. On
