Henry Phipps, Jr.

Henry Phipps Jr. (September 27, 1839 – September 22, 1930) was an American entrepreneur known for his business relationship with Andrew Carnegie and involvement with the Carnegie Steel Company. He was also a successful real estate investor. After selling his stock in Carnegie Steel, he devoted a great deal of his time and money to philanthropic works. Early life Henry Phipps Jr. was born on September 27, 1839, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His English parents, Henry Phipps, a shoemaker, and Hannah (née Franks), were married at Wolverhampton in 1824 and migrated to Philadelphia at some point after that, settling in Pittsburgh in 1845. Phipps was educated at public schools in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. He had one sister, Amelia Phipps Walker (Mrs. John Walker; 1846-1887), and two brothers: William Henry Phipps (1825-1902), and John Phipps (1833-1860), who was also friends with Carnegie and who died young. Phipps’s oldest brother, William Henry Phipps, was born on 27 March 1825 and baptized at Wellington, Shropshire, England, on 18 August 1830, which places the family’s emigration to the US during the 1830s. Career Phipps began working as a young man as an office boy and later a bookkeeper with Dillworth & Bidwell. In 1861, he became a partner in Bidwell & Phipps, which was an agent for the du Pont Powder Company, and a partner in Kloman & Phipps, a small iron mill.