Lady Phillips

Born in Cape Town, Dorothy Sarah Florence Ortlepp, known to all as "Florrie", spent her childhood in Colesberg, in the Karoo, where she inherited her love of the country from her land surveyor father, Albert Ortlepp....

Born in Cape Town, Dorothy Sarah Florence Ortlepp, known to all as "Florrie", spent her childhood in Colesberg, in the Karoo, where she inherited her love of the country from her land surveyor father, Albert Ortlepp. The family later moved to the Kimberley diamond mines and it was here, in 1885, that she met and married Lionel Phillips, who at the time, was managing a small mine for Sir J.B. Robinson. Lionel and Florrie spent the first years of their married life in a small corrugated-iron house with a tiny garden - a far cry from their eventual retirement home, Vergelegen.

As Lionel's career progressed (he was elected President of the Chamber Mines in 1892), Florrie and her young family moved from their original home to a larger house in Kimberley and then to their new home, "Hohenheim", on the Parktown ridge. It was during her life at Hohenheim that Florrie first made her name as a hostess of international renown.

When Florrie was in Europe on New Year's Day 1896, she received the news that Lionel had been imprisoned for his involvement in the Jameson Raid. She returned immediately to South Africa to support him during the trial and, upon his death sentence being commuted, they sailed together to England. During their eight-year stay there, the Phillipsís owned a town house in Grosvenor Square, London, and their country estate was Tylney Hall in Hampshire. It was during this time that Florence Phillips started her vast collection of art and antiques which were moved at a later stage to her Johannesburg home, Arcadia, and finally to Vergelegen.

In 1906 the Phillipsís returned to Johannesburg where in 1909 Sir Herbert Baker rebuilt their Parktown home, which became know as "Villa Arcadia". Once completed, it housed the paintings, tapestries and vases acquired in England.

Florrie, however, did not restrict her activities to creating a beautiful home for her family but became intimately involved in promoting local culture and handicrafts.

She formed the Ladies' Committee of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society and the South African National Union. It took many years of determined effort on her part, but when the Johannesburg Art Gallery finally opened in 1916 this was due almost entirely to her endeavours. She also commissioned Marloth to produce "The Flora of South Africa", which resulted in the publication of a beautifully illustrated botanical survey of South African Flora.

In the 1912 New Yearís Honours list, Lionel was created a baronet and Florrie became Lady Phillips.

During the period of the 1914-18 war the Phillipsí travelled frequently between England and South Africa and, in 1917, Florrie finally persuaded Lionel to retire to the Cape and purchase Vergelegen, at Somerset West, for her.

The property was in a very neglected condition, but Florrie, with the help of her architect, C. Percy Walgate, threw her considerable energies into the restoration of the historic homestead. She brought her gardener, Hanson, from England to plant shrubs, trees and herbaceous borders, and converted the old winery into a magnificent library to house Sir Lionelís collection of books. The unproductive lands were cultivated and a herd of Kerry and Dexter cattle imported into the country. Opening her newly restored home to people of all walks of life, Florrie entertained lavishly.

She was a great benefactor to young creative artists and during her tenure many famous and influential guests, as well as struggling artists, enjoyed her hospitality. Gwelo Goodman, Francis Brett-Young and Irma Stern were among her protÈgÈs. General and Ouma Smuts were also frequent visitors to the estate. Lionel and Florrie Phillips campaigned, too, for the establishment of a national botanical garden- today the renowned Kirstenbosch. She was involved in the restoration of the Koopmans de Wet house, and persuaded Max Michaelis to donate many works of art to the art gallery.

When she died at Vergelegen in 1940, at the age of 77, Florrie Phillips left behind a legacy of beauty to be enjoyed by thousands.

"No Ordinary Woman", indeed a fitting epithet for Lady Florence Phillips.

---