Philip Green was a ship owner who lived on Charlotte Street (now part of George Street). His brother Joseph was a Baltic merchant based in Königsberg (then E Prussia, now Kaliningrad, Russia). His sister Ann had married a London merchant, Charles Staniforth.

Just a year before his death, Philip brought her son John Staniforth up from London and helped get him elected as MP (Tory) in 1802, a seat he held until 1818. Staniforth attracted
East India trade and Navy contracts to Hull, and from 1807 was also Director of the Bank of England.