Category:Augustine Phillips

Augustine Phillips was a player associated with Strange's men in 1593. He is named in the company's license to travel dated 6 May 1593. Subsequently he joined the Chamberlain's men, continuing with the company when it became the King's men.

He was cast as Sardanapalus in the playlet, "Sloth," in the Plot of "[[Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins, The|The Seven Deadly Sins|]". He acquired a share in the Globe playhouse in 1599. When the company was called to account for having put on Richard II at the Globe in February 1601 in conjunction with the Essex uprising, Phillips was the company representative who testified that the performance had not been the company's idea. Of all the players who served with the Chamberlain's/King's, Phillips left the most detailed will in terms of bequests to fellows in the playhouse world.

Phillips had several residences in the parish of St. Saviour's Southwark: Bullhead Alley (1593), Horse-shoe Court (1593, 1595, 1604), Montague Close (1601), and Bradshaw's Rents (1602). He also lived for a time in St. Bodolph Aldgate (Hammond's Rents), where a daughter of his was buried in 1597. By the time he died, he had moved to Mortlake, Surrey.

Phillips died in 1605. His will survives, and it provides numerous details about his fellows in its bequests. Also, the will establishes his family connection with William Bird (Borne), a player with the Admiral's men; Bird was married to Phillips's sister, Margery. Another sister, Elizabeth, was married to the player Robert Goughe, who, like Phillips, is cast in the Plot of "2 Seven Deadly Sins."

Works Cited