It is as a promoter of railways in Newfoundland that his name will be principally remembered (Prowse's History of Newfoundland, 1895, p. 495 note). In 1880 he carried the first railway bill through the island legislature for the construction of a light railway from St. John's to Hall's Bay, and though he was personally in favour of construction by the government, the work was entrusted to an American syndicate with unsatisfactory results. When he returned to power in 1889 he took up again with vigour the policy of developing the colony by railways, and during his second administration he concluded the earlier contracts with Robert Gillespie Reid of Montreal under which the railway was subsequently constructed via the Exploits river to Port aux Basques in the south-west of the island, the nearest point to Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia. The later Reid contracts of 1898 and 1901 were not in accordance with his views.
A leading member of the Church of England in Newfoundland, and district grand master of the Freemasons, Whiteway died at St. John's on 24 June 1908, the natal day of Newfoundland, and was buried in the Church of England cemetery at St. John's.
He married (1) in 1862 Mary (d. 1868), daughter of J. Lightbourne, rector of Trinity Church in Bermuda; (2) in 1872 Catherine Anne, daughter of W. H. Davies of Nova Scotia. One son and two daughters survived him.
[The Daily News, St. John's, Newfoundland, 25 June 1908; The Times, 26 June 1908; Blue Books; D. W. Prowse's History of Newfoundland, 1895; 2nd edit. 1896; Colonial Office List; Who's Who.]
WHITMAN, ALFRED CHARLES (1860–1910), writer on engravings, youngest son of Edwin Whitman, a grocer, by his wife Fanny, was born at Hammersmith on 12 October 1860, and was educated at St. Mark's College School, Chelsea. On leaving school he was employed by the firm of Henry Dawson & Sons, typo-etching company, of Farringdon Street and Chiswick, with whom he remained till he was appointed on 21 Dec. 1885 an attendant in the department of prints and drawings in the British Museum. For some years he served in his spare time as amanuensis to Lady Charlotte Schreiber [q. v.] and assisted her in the arrangement and cataloguing of her collections of fans and playing-cards. He was promoted to the office of departmental clerk in the print department on 20 May 1903. His tact, patience, and courtesy, combined with an exceptional knowledge of the English prints in the collection, made his aid invaluable to visitors who consulted it, and he acquired, in particular, a well-deserved reputation as an authority on British mezzotint engraving. His earlier books, ‘The Masters of Mezzotint’ (1898) and ‘The Print Collector's Handbook’ (1901; new and enlarged edit. 1912), were of a popular character, and have less permanent value than the catalogues of eminent engravers' works, which were the outcome of notes methodically compiled during many years, not only in the British Museum, but in private collections and sale-rooms. ‘Valentine Green,’ published in 1902 as part of a series, ‘British Mezzotinters,’ to which other writers contributed under his direction, is less satisfactory than ‘Samuel William Reynolds,’ published in 1903 as the first volume in a series of ‘Nineteenth Century Mezzotinters.’ It was followed by ‘Samuel Cousins’ (1904) and ‘Charles Turner’ (1907). These two books rank among the best catalogues of an engraver's work produced in England. Whitman's health began to fail in the autumn of 1908, and he died in London after a long illness, on 2 Feb. 1910. His annotated copy of J. Chaloner Smith's ‘British Mezzotint Portraits’ was sold at Christie's on 6 June 1910 for 430l. 10s. On 12 August 1885 he married, at Hammersmith, Helena Mary Bing.
[The Athenæum, 12 Feb. 1910; private information.]
WHITMORE, Sir GEORGE STODDART (1830–1903), major-general, commandant of forces in New Zealand, born at Malta on 1 May 1830, was son of Major George St. Vincent Whitmore, R.E., and grandson of General Sir George Whitmore (1775–1862), K.C.H., colonel-commandant R.E. His mother was Isabella, daughter of Sir John Stoddart [q. v.], chief justice of Malta. Educated at Edinburgh Academy and at the Staff College, he achieved some success, and entered the army in 1847 as ensign in the Cape mounted rifles. He became lieutenant in May 1850, captain in July 1854, and brevet-major in June 1856. He distinguished himself in the Kaffir wars of 1847 and 1851–3, and was present at the defeat of the Boers at Boem Plaats in 1848. In 1855–6 he served with distinction in the Crimea, receiving the fourth class of the Mejidie. In 1861 he went to New Zealand as military secretary to Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron
