660 Philip Muntz

Constituency :  Birmingham  1868-85

Philip took  the  new  third  seat  at  Birmingham. His  candidature  was  welcomed  by  the  Birmingham  Daily  Post :"Mr  Muntz,  as  a  manufacturer  himself , will  represent  the  industrial  interest  of  the  town, which  is  assuredly  of  sufficient  importance  to  deserve  a  guardian  in  the  new  Parliament".

Philip  was  the  son  of  a  Lithuanian  metal  works  owner. He  was  educated  at  Shrewsbury  and became  a  merchant. He  and  his  brother  George  ( who  was  a  former  MP  for  the  city ) became   Chartists  and  were  part  of  a  Chartist  delegation  from  the  Midlands  in  1838. He  became the  second  mayor  of  Birmingham  in  1839. In  1846  he  became  chairman  of  the  Birmingham and Oxford Junction  Railway.  Philip  became  chairman  of  the  Liberal  election  committee  in  Birmingham  from  1859  to  his  own  election. He  helped  to  develop  the  "caucus"  system  in  Birmingham.

In  1870  Philip  was  appointed  to  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  army  purchase  system.

Philip  retired  due  to  age  and  ill  health  in  1885.

In  October 1888  Philip  was  granted  the  freedom  of  the  borough  on  the 50th  anniversary  of  the  first  town  council  of  which  he  was  the  sole  survivor. He  died  of  a  stroke  two  months  later  aged  77.