Lionel Phillips was born in London in 1855, where his father was a trader. He was one of three sons in this lower middle-class, hard-working family.
Phillips's early formal education was limited, and at the age of 14, he became a bookkeeper for his father's business. He soon ventured out on his own and joined a firm of London diamond-sorters. While there he heard of the discovery of diamond deposits at the thriving mining town of Kimberley in South Africa.
After saving up money for the passage to Cape Town, Phillips resigned from his employer and travelled in steerage class to the Cape. He arrived at the Kimberley diamond fields at the age of 20, having walked most of the way there from Cape Town.
Joseph Robinson, the mining magnate, was so impressed with the drive and ability of
