570 Philip Vanderbyl

Constituency : Bridgwater  1866-9,  Portsmouth 1885-6

We  now  enter  the  period  when  new  Liberal  MPs  were  going  into  opposition  following  the  fall  of  Russell's  government  over  the  Reform  Bill.  Philip  was  a  beneficiary, snatching  Bridgwater  from  the  Tory  MP George  Patton  at  the  by-election  necessitated  when  he  was  appointed   Lord  Advocate. Philip  won  by  312  to  275 votes  and  survived  an  electoral  commission  to  investigate  charges  of gross  bribery.

Philip  began  his  working  life  as  a  doctor  but  gave  up  medical  practice  for  business  in  1858. He  joined  a  London  merchant  house  trading  with  Australia  and  New  Zealand. He  was  also  involved  in  transporting  frozen  meat  between  Britain  and  the  USA, iron  and  Indian  trade. He  was  a  director  of  the  National  Bank  of  New  Zealand. He  stood  at  Great  Yarmouth  in  1865.

Philip  was  re-elected  in  1868  but  the  following  year  he  was  unseated   on  petition  and  the  borough was  disenfranchised  for  bribery and  corruption  in  1870/.

Philip  returned  as  MP  for  Portsmouth  in  1885  but  was  defeated  in  1886. He  stood  at  a  by-election  in  Winchester  in  1888 but  was  soundly  defeated.

He  died  in  1892  aged  64.