Whipple Van Buren Phillips (November 22, 1833 - March 28, 1904) is the maternal grandfather of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
Phillips was a successful businessman and owned much of the land in and around the town of Greene, Rhode Island. There he founded Freemason Ionic Lodge No. 28 in 1870. He had four children with his wife Robie Alzada Place Phillips - Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft (1857 - 1921), Emeline Estella Phillips (1859 - 1865), Edwin Everett Phillips (1864 - 1918). Annie Emeline Phillips Gamwell.
After H.P. Lovecraft's father was committed to Butler Hospital for a nervous disorder he was largely raised by his mother and grandfather. Phillips heavily encouraged his Howard's passion for reading, with a focus on classical literature and English poetry. After his death in 1904 he was buried in Swan Point Cemetery Rhode Island. Though he left his family a substantial inheritance it was greatly mismanaged.
The Dunwich Horror story by Lovecraft is frequently considered autobiographical to some extent with Whipple van Buren being compared to the Old Whately.
In the Mythos
Lovecraft's father Winfield Lovecraft, instead of the grandfather who raised him, was a Freemason. He was Egyptian and possessed Picatrix of Maslama ibn Ahma al-Magritit (a.k.a. pseudo-Magriti) and Godziher’s Book of the Essence of the Soul of which Lovecraft's Necronomicon is a mere portion.[1]
Van Whipple was a membre of the Stella Sapiente and manufactured the creation of his grandson so that his writings would bring enough power to his creation that they could manifest in the future. This was done in a way similar to the real life counterpart of the Old Whateley.[2]
References
- ↑ Colin Wilson, introduction to the Hay Necronomicon
- ↑ Providence