Alumni Cantabrigienses states that Phelps was "notorious for his conservatism and belief in the old university customs and regulations".[2] As Master of Sidney Sussex, Phelps refused to provide data for the Royal Commission on university property and finances in 1874, preventing the fellows from providing data by appointing himself bursar and removing the accounts to his lodge, writing "insolent replies to the commission's requests for information".[3]