Phill was born to Eve and Ted in Ilford and was brought up in Hainault in post war Britain in a prefab – a home and an upbringing that he was very proud of.

School did not inspire Phill and he left at the earliest opportunity and went to work at Howards chemical factory making aspirins. He used to say that no one in his street suffered from bad headaches.

At the age of 17, through his youth club, he was given an opportunity to join an Outward- Bound course in the Lake District – he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He credited this as being the turning point in his life. He learned leadership skills and it also gave him the ambition to succeed in life. 

Having seen a job advert at Howards for an electrical apprenticeship and his father being an electrician, he thought he would give it a go.

In his late teenage years, he became a Queen’s Scout and a Judo blackbelt and played rugby.

He excelled at being an electrician and with his new- found ambition was soon running his own very successful business, Regency, for some 25 years followed by periods as a director at Taylor Woodrow and Lorne Stewart.

As a member of the ECA he was encouraged by Derek Wheatley to join the Lightmongers and upon his retirement from his day job became Clerk to the Company.

He was very different to his predecessors, but he was brilliant.

He enjoyed every minute of his job and promoted the Company in the City and helped many Masters and Consorts to make the most of every day of their year.

He loved the ceremonial and our affiliations with the armed forces, cadet units and our schools.

His love of the Livery and the City was only matched by his love of the Royal Automobile Club where he was a member for over 40 years and for 6 days a week, he took Sundays as a rest day, he went to the gym at 6am every morning and called the Club his second home. 

Phill is survived by Jill whom he married in 1969 and they have four children, Ben, Nick, Sam and Alex and seven grandchildren-all girls – “his netball team”. Phill loved his family and was so proud of all their achievements.

Phill was larger than life in every way and has left a huge gap in all our lives.

Phill died suddenly doing what he loved – listening to patriotic music with Jill at the Royal Festival Hall.

Phillip J Hyde           born 2ND OCTOBER 1945-died 4TH JUNE 2022