Henry Frederick Lippitt papers (Ms.2011.011)

Biographical/Historical note

Henry Frederick Lippitt was born on October 12, 1856 in Providence. He attended private schools, graduated from Brown University in 1878, and entered the cotton manufacturing business. He was director of a bank and of several mill insurance companies, and was vice president of the People's Savings Bank of Providence. He served on the Governor's staff with the rank of colonel in 1888-1889 and was president of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association (now the National Textile Association) in the latter year. Lippitt was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1911, to March 4, 1917; he was unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1916. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture (Sixty-second Congress). He again became actively engaged in the textile industry; He died in Providence, Rhode Island in 1933 and was buried in Swan Point Cemetery.Henry Lippitt was a great-uncle of John H. Chafee and a great-great-uncle of Lincoln D. Chafee, both U.S. Senators, and also governors from Rhode Island. He was also the son of Henry Lippitt, a former Governor of Rhode Island.