William Hobbs's Miraculous Provision of a Hat for Elder Thomas Phillips
Published October 5, 2026 at 5:59 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
Elder Thomas Phillips, traveling without purse and scrip in Surrey, England, needed a new hat. Brother William Hobbs dreamed that a hat would be provided for him. While Hobbs was working on the railway track later that day, a high-quality hat flew out of a passing train, which Hobbs identified as the answer to his dream and gave to Elder Phillips, who found that it fit him perfectly.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 44, No. 3, 16 January 1882, p. 46):
Brother William Hobbs, of Hersham, Surrey, had a dream that a hat would be provided for Elder Thomas Phillips, who was traveling without purse or scrip. While Brother Hobbs was at work on the railway track, a hat flew out of a passing train, which he secured and gave to Elder Phillips, and it was found to be a perfect fit.
In Their Own Words
“One night Brother Hobbs dreamt that a person came to him and told him that Brother Phillips would be at his house on a certain day, which I think was four or five days from the time he dreamt. He was further told, that he must get a new hat for Brother Phillips; for the one he wore was very bad. This dream was very much impressed on the mind of Brother Hobbs, and troubled him sorely, for it found him without money and some miles from any town where he could buy a hat. ... When the day came that I was to be at his house in the evening, he went to his work very low-spirited, not having obtained the hat. While at work on the track, a long train of cars came along, and when it passed the place where Brother Hobbs and his hands were at work, a hat, suitable for the finest gentleman in the land, flew out of one of the windows. Brother Hobbs shouted "That's the hat for Brother Phillips! thank God!" When Brother Hobbs came home in the evening, I was there, it being the time specified in the dream. He walked up to me and said: "Brother Phillips, I was to give you a hat, and here it is." To our surprise, it fitted me well. — Millennial Star 44:3”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 16 January 1882 (Vol. 44, No. 3). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1882-01-16_44_3 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 44, No. 3, 16 January 1882, p. 46 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1882-01-16_44_3
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