George Whitaker (9 October 1811 – 27 August 1882) was an English-Canadian clergyman and educator.
Early life
Whitaker was born into a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
family in
Bratton,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, the eighth child of Philip Whitaker, a farmer, and his wife Anne Andrews.
[ Two of the couple's older sons, Alfred and Edward, became solicitors, Alfred at Frome and Edward in London.][
An eighteenth-century member of the same Whitaker family of Bratton was Jeffery Whitaker, a local schoolmaster who left a diary for the years 1739–1741 which was published by the ]Wiltshire Record Society
The Wiltshire Record Society is a text publication society in Wiltshire, England, which edits and publishes historic documents concerned with the history of Wiltshire.
History
In 1937, Ralph Pugh was the chief mover in a proposal to found the rec ...
in 1993.
Whitaker received his early education at Frome Grammar School
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
and then joined Charterhouse School
(God having given, I gave)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president ...
, then in Charterhouse Square
Charterhouse Square is a garden square, a pentagonal space, in Farringdon, in the London Borough of Islington, and close to the former Smithfield Meat Market. The square is the largest courtyard or yard associated with the London Charterhouse, m ...
near the City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
. He attended the school as a day boy while living with his brother Edward.Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...
, in 1829 and graduated BA in 1833 and MA in 1836.Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
at Bratton Parish Church.Thirty-Nine Articles
The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...
to take his degree.[
]
Career
Whitaker was elected a foundation fellow of his college in 1834[ and the next year became a university lecturer in classics.][ He was ordained a deacon on 4 June 1837 and took the orders of a priest on 27 May the following year.][
In 1840 he was appointed Vicar of Oakington, Cambridgeshire, a living in the gift of his college.][
He served as the first provost and professor of divinity of the University of Trinity College, now federated with the ]University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, from its opening in 1852 (when it had just thirty students) until his retirement in 1881.[ From 1875 he was also Archdeacon of York, Toronto.][
After ending his career in Toronto, Whitaker retired to his home county of Wiltshire as Rector of ]Newton Toney
Newton Tony (formerly Newton Toney) is a rural English village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, close to the border with Hampshire. Situated in the River Bourne, Wiltshire, Bourne Valley, Newton Tony is abo ...
, near Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
, England. He died in August 1882 and was buried at Newton Toney.[
]
Family
On 22 October 1844, at Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
, George Whitaker married Arundel Charlotte Burton, the daughter of the Rev. Richard Burton, born in Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
, where her father had been a Baptist missionary, and brought up in Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
in the west of England. George and Arundel Whitaker had at least eight children.
Publications
*''Two letters to the lord bishop of Toronto, in reply to charges brought by the lord bishop of Huron against the theological teaching of Trinity College, Toronto'' (Toronto, 1860)
*''St John the Baptist, an exemplar to Christian ministers: a sermon preached in the chapel of Trinity College, Toronto, on Sunday, 24 June 1860'' (Toronto, 1860)
*''Soberness of mind; a sermon preached in the chapel of Trinity College, Toronto, on Sunday, 25 June 1865'' (Toronto, 1865)
*''The office of ritual in Christian worship: a sermon preached at St. George’s Church, St Catharines, on Wednesday, 4 April 1866'' (Toronto, 1866)
*''The duty of mutual toleration by parties within the church'' (in ''Dominion Churchman'', Toronto, 11 & 25 July 22 August, 19 September 17 October, and 5 December 1878)
* ''Sermons preached in Toronto; for the most part in the chapel of Trinity College'' (London and Toronto, 1882)Online text of Whitaker's ''Sermons preached in Toronto''
(accessed 16 October 2007)
References
* Reeves, M. E. ''George Whitaker (1811–1882): a forgotten native of Bratton'' in ''Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, 1980'' (Devizes, 1980) pp 135–39
*Thomson, C. E. ''The Reverend Geo. Whitaker, M.A., first provost, 1852–1881'' (Trinity University Review, Toronto, 1902)
*Reed, T. A. (ed.) ''A history of the University of Trinity College, Toronto, 1852–1952'' (Toronto, 1952)
External links
Bibliographic directory
from Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...
''Sermons preached in Toronto; for the most part in the chapel of Trinity College''
(1882) – online text available at the Canadian Libraries pages of archive.org
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, George
1882 deaths
1811 births
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge
People educated at Charterhouse School
People from Wiltshire
People from Oakington