John George 'Jack' Phillips was born on April 11, 1887 to George Alfred Phillips and Ann Sanders in Farncombe, Surrey, England. He finished school in Godalming in 1902, and began working at a Godalming post office where he learned telegraphy. He graduated from his training for the Marconi company in August of 1906. Mr. Phillips worked on the ships the Campania, the Corsican, the Victorian, the Pretorian, the Lusitania, the Mauretania, the Adriatic, and later, the Oceanic. In March of 1912, Mr. Phillips was sent to Ireland to be the senior wireless operator on the Royal Mail Steamer the Titanic. Phillips sent the CQD and SOS when the ship was sinking, and kept sending until the end. Mr. Phillips survived the sinking, but succumbed to hypothermia in a lifeboat on April 15, 1912.
