The new Mrs Philipps accompanied her husband on the arduous voyage back to India to begin domestic life in married quarters at Kurnool, Mangalore, a city directly west of Madras on the Malabar Coast, to where Lt Philipps's regiment had been posted. Here on 27th June 1858 their first child was born, Georgiana Maria, who was to grow up to become 'Miss Georgie' of Oaklands in distant Llanteg. Two more little girls soon followed: Ellen Fanny Rose, born 10 February 1860, and Elizabeth Emma, born 22 June 1861, who died just before her first birthday - though it was not long before the empty cradle held a new occupant, the Philippses' first son, Herbert Vaughan, born 7 August 1862.

To all appearances the family's happiness seemed complete. But there was a serpent in their Eden, and we can only hazard a guess what form it took. Captain Philipps (he had been promoted in November 1858) was starting to get heavily into debt. The most likely explanation was that he had an addiction to gambling which he had found impossible to curb, resulting in financial embarrassment so serious that it drove him to commit an act of the most stupendous folly.

The facts speak for themselves. At a General Court Martial held at the military cantonment of Kamptee, Madras, on the first day of August 1864, Capt Philipps was arraigned on the following charge:

'For having behaved in a scandalous manner, unbecoming the character of an Officer and a Gentleman, in the following instances.
First Instance - In having at Kurnool, between the 19th March and the 3rd November 1863, with intent to commit fraud, forged a document purporting to be a Bill of Exchange drawn by one John Barker, Attorney at Law, on Sir John Lubback, Baronet, to pay to him the said Captain Lloyd Rice Philipps, on demand the sum of £950 sterling, dated "London 19th March 1863" and purporting to be signed as accepted by "John Lubback, Bart., Banker" under the date "London, 20th March 1863".
Second Instance - In having between the 1st and 5th November 1863, fraudulently used as genuine the aforesaid document, by delivering and endorsing it over to one Gholam Mohideen Khan Janozee, in payment of a debt, well knowing it to be a forged document with intent to defraud the said Gholam Mohideen Khan Janozee.'(Editor's note: at present-day worth, the forged banknote which Capt Philipps was accused of trying to pass had a value of just over £50,000.)
The arraignment continues:
'Finding - The Court on the evidence before it, and what has been stated in defence, is of the opinion that the Prisoner, Captain Lloyd Rice Philipps, of the 36th Regiment of Native Infantry, is
"Guilty" of the charge in its First Instance
"Guilty" of the charge in its Second Instance
"Guilty" of the preamble of the charge.
Sentence - The Court sentences the prisoner, Captain Lloyd Rice Philipps, of the 36th Regiment of Native Infantry, to be Cashiered.
Kamptee, 23rd day of August 1864
Approved and Confirmed
(signed) J.Hope Grant, Lieut. General
Commander in Chief.'

As a result of the court martial verdict, Capt Philipps was not only struck off the strength of the Army, but his military career was expunged from the service records, and he lost his entitlement to an Army pension. And as if that were not enough, to underline the awful tragedy of the situation Mrs Maria Philipps gave birth to a fourth baby girl, Catherine Charlotte, on 3rd November 1864, exactly three weeks after her husband had been cashiered.

One wonders how often the wretched father must have pondered his family's motto 'Gwell Angau na Chywilydd' - 'Better Death than Shame'.We know that the new baby was baptised in Madras at the beginning of December that year. After that there is nothing more heard of the family until 1866, by which time they had left India and come back home to Abergwili, where, on 26th October, yet another child, Augusta Louisa, was baptised.

After that there is a further gap of two years, and then in 1868 we find the Philippses have left Abergwili to live at Manchester House in Tavernspite. It seems probable that they found this accommodation through a family connection: Manchester House had originated as a public alehouse called The Spite (it later became the village shop) built by Thomas Philipps of Lampeter House, who owned Upper Carvan. And Tavernspite was far enough away from Carmarthen to discourage unwelcome speculation into the Captain's premature retirement from military service.

Here in this little village the Philippses' last child was born on 17th January 1868 and christened John George, after the Captain's father.The census of 1871 shows the family still at Manchester House. Lloyd Philipps, now aged 44, describes himself as an annuitant, i.e., living on an annual allowance - perhaps one provided by his Abergwili relatives. His wife Maria is also 44, and their children are given as Herbert, aged 8, Catherine, 6, Augusta, 4, and John, 3. The two older children, Georgiana and Ellen, are absent from this census, either because they were staying with relatives, or because they were being educated elsewhere.