(1743–1802) [q. v.] to reinforce Sir John Jervis (afterwards Earl St. Vincent) [q. v.] at Lisbon, and to take part in the battle of Cape St. Vincent, for which Whitshed, with the other captains engaged, received the gold medal and the thanks of both houses of parliament. He afterwards commanded successively the Ajax and the Formidable in the Channel fleet, and on 14 Feb. 1799 was promoted to be rear-admiral. In April, with his flag in the Queen Charlotte, he commanded a squadron of four ships of the line which was sent as a reinforcement to the Mediterranean fleet, on the news of the French fleet having escaped from Brest. In the pursuit he returned off Brest with Lord Keith [see Elphinstone, George Keith, Lord Keith]. He continued in the Channel till 1801, and in 1803, on the renewal of the war, was appointed naval adviser to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, to superintend the arrangements for the defence of the Irish coast and to organise the sea fencibles. He became vice-admiral on 23 April 1804, and in the spring of 1807 was appointed commander-in-chief at Cork, where he remained for three years. On 31 July 1810 he was promoted to the rank of admiral. He was nominated a K.C.B. on 2 Jan. 1815, was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth from January 1821 to April 1824, was made a G.C.B. on 17 Nov. 1830, a baronet on 16 May 1834, baron of the kingdom of Hanover in 1843, and admiral of the fleet on 8 Jan. 1844. He died at his house in Cavendish Square, London, on 28 Oct. 1849.
Whitshed's portrait, by F. Cruikshank, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich.
Whitshed married, in 1791, Sophia Henrietta, daughter of Captain John Albert Bentinck of the navy (d. 1775), and had issue two sons and four daughters. The eldest son was killed in 1813, when a midshipman of the Berwick. The second, St. Vincent Keene, who succeeded to the baronetcy, died in 1870; and on the death of the second baronet's only surviving son in the following year the baronetcy became extinct.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Ralfe's Nav. Biogr. ii. 271; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. i. 120; Naval Chronicle (with portrait), xxii. 353; Gent. Mag. 1850, i. 85.]
WHITSON, JOHN (1557–1629), merchant adventurer, was born in 1557 at Clearwell in the parish of Newland, Gloucestershire, and at the age of eighteen went to Bristol, where he entered the service of Trenchard, a wine-cooper and shipowner. He became Trenchard's first clerk, and on Trenchard's death married the widow and succeeded to the business. When Philip II laid an embargo on the English ships in 1585, Whitson fitted out the Mayflower to make reprisals. Her cruise was successful, but Whitson, not caring to carry on the business, sold her to Thomas James, afterwards mayor of Bristol, who has been erroneously described as father of Thomas James (1593?–1635?) [q. v.], the navigator. In the early voyages for the settlement of North America, Whitson took an active part, and especially in sending out Martin Pring [q. v.] He was also distinguished for his charities and as a benefactor to the town of Bristol, of which he was twice mayor—in 1603 and 1615. He represented Bristol in four parliaments, being returned in 1605, 1620, 1625, and February 1625–6. He died of a fall from his horse, and was buried in St. Nicholas Church, Bristol, on 9 March 1628–9. He was three times married.
[Brown's Genesis of the United States, with portrait, pp. 1020, 1052; Seyer's Memoirs of Bristol; Notes from Mr. Ivor James.]
WHITTAKER. [See also Whitaker.]
WHITTAKER, GEORGE BYROM (1793–1847), bookseller and publisher, born at Southampton in March 1793, was the son of the Rev. George Whittaker, master of the grammar school. About 1814 he became a partner of Charles Law, wholesale bookseller, Ave Maria Lane, London, a house established by W. Bidwell Law (d. 1798). Whittaker brought capital and energy into the business. One enterprise was the publication of a translation of Cuvier's ‘Animal Kingdom,’ in sixteen volumes, with many coloured plates. In 1824 he served as sheriff of London and Middlesex. He published for Mrs. Trollope, Colley Grattan, George Croly, and Miss Mitford. The last novel of Sir Walter Scott came out with his imprint, and his firm published in London all the early collective editions of the novelist. In conjunction with the Oxford and Cambridge booksellers he produced a series of Greek and Latin classics. John Payne Collier's edition of Shakespeare (1841) was issued by him. He published the Pinnock educational primers and many other children's books, and he was a promoter of reading among the people by his ‘Popular Library.’
He died at Kensington on 13 Dec. 1847. Richard Gilbert [q. v.], founder of the printing firm of Gilbert & Rivington, married Whittaker's only sister; their son Robert succeeded to his uncle's property and business.
[Gent. Mag. 1848, i. 95–6; Nichols's Illustrations, 1858, viii. 483–4.]
