Philip English is the Chairman and founder of Philip T English International Financial Services Limited, a company he established in the belief that individuals and families needed an organisation that could sensitively and confidentially deal with all their financial needs. He conceived the company on the business model of a Harley Street practice – perceiving the need for his clients to ‘enter one door’ through which they could gain access to experts in every field of finance, from tax planning and investments to the writing of Wills and the formation of Trusts.
Today, the company is one of the longest established in the financial advisory industry and remains unique in the totally personal and holistic approach it offers its clients.
Although Philip has worked in the financial sector for over 35 years, it is his rather unexpected background in science and theology which has shaped much of the work he undertakes today. His first degree from Durham University is in anthropology and psychology, and he later studied theology, also at Durham. He was ordained in 1962, and spent 10 years working as a priest with the Church of England, in Dioceses in Birmingham and in Hong Kong.
Philip left full time employment of the Church, joining Sun Life of Canada and so launching his financial services career, and in 1972 founded the company. Since then, Philip has personally become the keystone around which the company has flourished, jealously guarding the firm’s long-term reputation for personal service and excellence.
A member of the International Tax Planning Association for over 20 years and became an Honorary Fellow of the Life Insurance Association, (now part of the Personal Finance Society), Philip has turned much of his attention in recent years to raising standards of education and professionalism in the financial services sector, and has campaigned to see Masters degrees developed and offered in universities such as Oxford and Buckingham.
Through the success of his company, he has also been able to devote his energies to charitable fundraising, and notable involvement has been with the Great Ormond Street Hospital appeal – for which he assembled an international rugby team comprising some ‘greats’ of the sport for a fundraising match – and later as chairman of the Clarence House Restoration Trust, based in Antigua’s Nelson’s Dockyard.
More recently he has taken on the Chairmanship of Oxford University’s Steering Committee on China, raising funds for the establishment of the newly created China Centre at Oxford which opened in April 2008.
In his spare time, Philip enjoys his family, rugby, cricket, music and the theatre and Hereford cattle. He is actively involved in the development of a rugby academy in the north east of England and remains involved with Warwickshire County cricket team, for whom he formerly played. His herd of Hereford cattle , which Philip breeds at his home in Oxfordshire, has amassed a string of awards – most notably taking the UK’s top award, Hereford Bull of the Year, in 2007 – while genetics from the herd is in regular world-wide demand.