Editing Henry Phillpotts (section)

== Legacy ==
Phillpotts' position was that of the traditional [[High Church]]man, with little sympathy either with the [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]]s or with the [[Tractarian]]s,<ref name="EB1911"/> although he was considered to represent the conservative high church wing of the [[Oxford Movement]] and emphasized liturgical forms of worship, episcopal government, monastic life, and early Christian doctrine as normative of orthodoxy.

On the one hand, the famous Gorham judgment was the outcome of his refusal to give the living of [[Brampford Speke]] to [[George Cornelius Gorham]] (1787–1857), who had expressed disbelief in [[baptismal regeneration]]; on the other hand, he denounced the equally famous ''[[Tract 90]]'' in his episcopal charge of 1843.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Phillpotts was generous in his gifts to the church, founding the [[Seminary|theological college]] at Exeter and spending large sums on the restoration of the [[Exeter Cathedral|cathedral]].<ref name="EB1911"/>
Exeter Cathedral states that<ref>[http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/Clergy/Oliver/59.html Henry Phillpotts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511175731/http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/Clergy/Oliver/59.html |date=11 May 2006 }} ''Lives of the Bishops of Exeter'' Exeter Cathedral website. Retrieved 11 February 2007</ref> Phillpotts was able to restore the Bishop's palace in a "most creditable manner".

An allegation, made at the General Synod in 2006 claimed that Phillpotts was paid almost £13,000 (£12,729.5s.2d) in 1833, under the terms of the [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833]], as compensation for the loss of slaves when they were [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|emancipated]].<ref>Rev. Bessant to General Synod of the Church of England, February 2006, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4694896.stm Church apologises for slave trade] bbc.co.uk news, 8 February 2006.</ref> The same claim was repeated in the House of Commons by [[Chris Bryant]], MP for Rhondda:<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo060306/debtext/60306-04.htm#60306-04_spnew3  The claim stated that "The Bishop of Exeter kept 655 slaves until the time of Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 and he received £12,700 in compensation], ''[[Hansard]]'', 6 March 2006, column 600: 21.</ref> However, it has been shown that the Compensation of £13089.4s.4d was paid to Phillpotts and three others acting as trustees and executors for [[John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley]] for 665 slaves on three plantations in Jamaica.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rt. Hon. Rev. Henry Phillpotts|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/18347|publisher=UCL|work= Legacies of British slave-ownership|access-date=6 July 2014}}</ref> It was considered  unlikely that any share of such funds, equivalent to more than one million [[Pound sterling|pounds sterling]] in present value, went to Phillpotts as he would not have been permitted to be paid for acting as Executor nor to benefit under the terms of the Will. Further investigation into the will of Lord Dudley has shown that Phillpotts was given and item of £2000 in a codicil letter attached to the will dated September 21, 1831. Given that the executors did benefit financially from the will it cannot be said with certainty that the executors did not benefit financially from the ‘slave compensation’ payment, especially because the will was contested in the courts and the slave compensation was under consideration in those proceedings. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eb9Ui6LGsHtwievPqHScJw95v71gQRfP/view

Other large amounts bequeathed to the executors in the codicil letter include:
“item, to John Benbow Esq. of Lincolns Inn, five thousand pounds. Item, to Francis Downing Esq, of Dudley four thousand pounds. (as well as) Item to Henry Lord Bishop of Exeter two thousand pounds”

Both the office of the then Bishop of Exeter, [[Michael Langrish]], at the time of the allegation, and the Devon County Library (which holds Diocesan records), have stated that they hold no record of any further involvement in the slave trade by Phillpotts other than the recording as a Trustee/Executor of a joint holding of the 665 slaves that were the property of [[John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley]]. Although Bishop Phillpotts did not own slaves, the allegation remains, that he was party to the forgery of the will of Lord Dudley. The will of Lord Dudley is held in The National Archives, PROB 10/5417 this document includes the codicil letters and letters pertaining to the authenticity of the will written by Jon Benbow (Solicitor to Lord Dudley), and Henry Money Wainwright, Clerk to Jon Benbows solicitors and scribe of the will.

His biographer sums up his legacy thus:
<blockquote>The champion of lost causes, his attitude, his policy, and even his virtues became increasingly inappropriate. Loyal and even tender in family relationships; staunch in friendships; violent in controversy; brilliant in debate, he certainly deserves to be commemorated as one of the outstanding figures on the Bench during the nineteenth century.</blockquote>

The church tower at St. Marychurch was restored in 1873, at a cost of £3,500, in the bishop's memory.

The Bishop Phillpotts Library in Truro, Cornwall, founded by the bishop in 1856 for the benefit of the clergy of Cornwall, holds more than 10,000 volumes, mainly theological, open to access by clergy and students of all denominations. It was opened in 1871 and almost doubled in size in 1872 by the bequest of the collection of Prebendary Ford.<ref>''Cornish Church Guide'' (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 328</ref>