Charles Phillips is a retired civil servant and a local historian. He was born in St Andrew’s Hospital in Billericay in 1953, but has lived in the nearby village of Stock all of his life. He was educated in Chelmsford and joined the civil service in 1972, from which he took early retirement in 2005 to pursue his passion for local history. Charles has written a number of books including two editions of the history of Stock, the history of Billericay, the history of Maldon and the history of the New Essex Lines of the former Great Eastern Railway. He has a number of interests including the history of Essex, transport history including the railways of Eastern and Southern England, travel, watching amateur dramatics, films and television situation comedies from the late 1960s to early 1990s. He is a founder member of Stock and Buttsbury Heritage Society and amongst other societies belongs to the Great Eastern Railway Society. Between 1993 and 2016 Charles travelled all over the Continent and the British Isles us
