Boston bookseller and civic leader.

Kept a bookshop on the south side of Boston Town House. Captain (1734), then colonel (1758) of the Boston Regiment. Deacon of Brattle Street Church (1742). Overseer of the poor (1742-63). Treasurer of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (1749). Moderator of seventeen town meetings (1749-61). Representative to the General Court (1760-72).

Son of Samuel and Mary (Emerson) Phillips of Salem, Massachusetts. Married Mary Buttolph, daughter of bookseller Nicholas Buttolph (1723); had issue.