Worcester, Philip of (c.1160–c.1218), member of Henry II's (qv) household, was sent to Ireland in 1184 to prepare the way for the arrival of John (qv), lord of Ireland, in the following year. Worcester was sent with a force of forty knights to replace Hugh de Lacy I (qv) as the king's representative in Ireland, taking a position described as procurator by Gerald of Wales (qv). He led an expedition to Armagh in Lent 1185, probably to assert royal authority over the see and restore Archbishop Tommaltach Ua Conchobair (qv).
Worcester joined the retinue of John when the latter came to Ireland and was rewarded for his service with speculative grants that covered most of the southern half of the modern county of Tipperary, during the annexation of the eastern part of the kingdom of Limerick. Worcester appears to have returned to England with John but was in Ireland again in 1186. His return in 1193 with forces to support the English in Munster was noted in the Irish annals. He appears to have retained a position within John's household, as he witnessed a grant to William de Burgh (qv) in June 1200. Despite this connection to the king, Worcester's tenure of his lands in Ireland was interrupted in 1201 when the king granted most of his holdings to William de Braose (qv) to support his position of lord of Limerick. Worcester actively opposed de Braose in 1201, but by August 1202 he was ordered to turn over the manor of Knockgraffon to him.
Worcester seems to have returned to England but retained the king's favour. He was sent to Ireland in 1208 as the king's messenger to the justiciar Meiler fitz Henry (qv), and in June 1208 he was ordered to survey the state of the country and make contact with Cathal Mór Crobderg Ua Conchobair (qv), king of Connacht, and the other kings and lords of Ireland in the aftermath of the king's peace with his Irish magnates. Worcester returned to Ireland with John in 1210, witnessed several grants made by the king, and was himself granted the manor of Ratoath. In July 1215 he secured a grant of five cantreds in Tipperary (probably his original lands) for a fine of £100, but appears to have held them only during royal pleasure. Worcester was probably dead by July 1218 when these lands were resumed into royal hands; he was certainly dead by 1225 when his nephew William was granted seisin of them.