John George Phillips "Jack" was born on April 11, 1887 in the small English town on Farncombe, near Godalming in Surrey. He and his family lived above a drapers shop on Farncombe High Street and one of his sisters was named Elsie. He and his sisters shared the two bedrooms upstairs while his parents slept in a back room.
Jack decided he wanted to work with telegraphy after grammar school. He passed his Civil Serive Exams and then went to work in a local post office as the telegraphist. When Jack went to the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy training school in Liverpool it was March, 1906. He graduated at the top of his class and then went on to work on the Teutonic.
After that he worked on ships like the Lusitania, Mauretania, Campania, and Oceanic during the next two years. Then in 1908 Jack went to Clifden, Ireland on the coast to the Marconi Transatlantic Station. He also met the inventor of the wireless, Mr. Marconi here. There he met and befriended Harold Cottam, who would later help save the survivors on the Titanic.
The Adriatic was his next ship in 1911. Then in March of 1912 he was assigned to the Titanic, which was a great opportunity because Jack was considered the best of the bunch.
Jack proved himself a hero on the Titanic. He worked on the wireless transmitter when it broke down on Sunday nite and he worked diligently to send and receive passenger mail and ice warnings.
Before the disaster Jack had sent Harold Bride, the junior operator to bed because both were tired from the day's work. Harold resolved to let Jack off a whole two hours earlier from work because there was a sign that his health was suffering from all the work.
When the Titanic hit, Jack had just started to undress for bed. After Capt. Smith informed him of the situation he immediately began sending out the regulation call of CQD. Later Harold Bride suggested sending the new call of SOS. Jack Phillips made history by sending the first ever SOS call.
At 2:05 both Jack and Harold were released from duty by the captain. Jack stayed on until water was washing in the Marconi room (which was situated on the Boat Deck, near the Officers' Quarters). After he left the Marconi Office Harold Bride never saw him alive again.
It is speculated that Jack went aft and somehow found Collapsible B. Jack did die of a mix of exhaustion and hypothermia and he had a brain hemmorrage which contributed to his death. He died at 4:00 a.m. on April 15, 1912. Second Officer Lightoller, Jack Thayer, and Harold Bride saw Phillips on the boat and Lightoller rubbed his temples in an effort to revive him when he slipped into a coma. Jack's body was brought aboard the Carpathia and buried at sea.
Thanks to Nicole's Titanica for supplying the info.
