WHITEBOYS 355 WHITE HOUSE Martial Adventures of Henry and Me" (1918). WHITEBOYS, the name of an illegal association formed in Ireland about 1760. The association consisted of starving day laborers, evicted farmers, and others in a like condition, who used to assemble at nights to destroy the property of harsh landlords or their agents, the Protestant clergy, the tithe collectors, or any others that had made themselves obnoxious in the locality. In many cases they did not confine their acts of aggression merely to plunder and destruction, but went the length of murder. WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE WHITE CHAPEL, a celebrated parish of London, England, where the mysteri- ous "Jack the Ripper" operated in 1888- 1891. It contains the London Hospital and the Tower of London, and has a pop- ulation of about 30,000. WHITEFIELD, GEORGE, an Eng- lish clergyman; born in Gloucester, Eng- land, Dec. 16, 1714. At the age of 18 he entered as servitor at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he became acquainted with the Wesleys, and joined the small society which procured them the name of Meth- odists. He was ordained deacon in 1736, and soon became very popular as a preacher. In 1738 he went to the Ameri- can settlement of Georgia, where his min- istrations gave great satisfaction to the colonists. In the following year he re- turned to England to procure subscrip- tions for building an orphan house in the settlement. Having taken priest's orders, he repaired to London, where the churches in which he preached proved incapable of holding the crowds who as- sembled to hear him. He now adopted preaching in the open air, and visited various parts of the country, addressing vast audiences. In 1739 he again em- barked for America, and made a tour through several of the provinces, preach- ing with great effect to immense crowds. He returned to England in the following year, where for a time differences be- tween him and Wesley deprived him of many followers. After visiting many parts of England, Scotland, and Wales he again returned to America, and re- mained there nearly four years. Soon after his return he was introduced to the Countess of Huntingdon, who made him one of her chaplains. A visit to Ireland and two more voyages to Amer- ica followed, and for several years his labors were unremitting. He was the founder of the Calvinistic Methodists. At length, on his seventh visit to Amer- ica, he died in Newburyport, Mass., Sept. 30, 1770. See Methodism: Wes- ley. WHITE FRIARS, a popular name in pre-Reformation times for the friars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, now gener- ally known as Carmelites. The name had reference to the fact that they wore over the brown habit a white scapular and cloak. See Carmelite. WHITEHAVEN, an important mining center and seaport of Cumberland, Eng- land ; on a level inlet between precipitous cliffs; 38 miles S. W. of Carlisle, and 10 miles from Workington. The town con- tains numerous churches belonging to the various Protestant denominations, several schools, a mechanics institute, a library, public baths, etc. There are manufactures of coarse cloth, earthen- ware, soap, etc., but the prosperity of the town is chiefly due to the immense seams of coal and of haematite iron ore in its vicinity, some of which are wrought a distance of two miles under the sea. There are also large rope works and shipbuilding yards. Pop. about 20,000. WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM, an Eng- lish poet; born in Cambridge, England, in 1715. He was educated at Winches- ter and Cambridge, was secretary and register of the Order of the Bath, and became poet-laureate in 1757, succeeding Colley Cibber. He wrote: "The Roman Father," a tragedy; "The School for Lovers," a comedy; and other dramas and poems. He died April 14, 1785. WHITE HOUSE, a name applied to the presidential mansion in Washington,
