Brigadier John Percival Whiteley OBE (7 January 1898 – 4 July 1943) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and a Conservative Party politician. Whiteley was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, ending the war as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

. In 1926 he transferred to the Life Guards, retiring in 1928 and joining the 99th (Buckinghamshire and Berkshire Yeomanry) Field Brigade, Royal Artillery ( Territorial Army) as a captain. He was promoted major in 1932. He stood unsuccessfully at the 1929 general election in Birmingham Aston, and entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

8 years later when he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Buckingham at a by-election in 1937, after the sitting MP George Bowyer was elevated to the peerage as Baron Denham.Craig, page 296 When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

broke out, Whiteley resumed military service. He was active at Dunkirk, and died in 1943, aged 45, when he was killed in a plane crash in Gibraltar, along with the Conservative MP

Victor Cazalet Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet, MC (27 December 1896 – 4 July 1943) was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for nineteen years. He came from a prominent, wealthy English family. In his political career, he was a noted autho ...

and General

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish i ...

, the leader of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

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British Army Officers 1939−1945
1898 births 1943 deaths People educated at Shrewsbury School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1935–1945 British Army personnel of World War I British Army brigadiers of World War II British Army personnel killed in World War II Royal Artillery officers British Life Guards officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Gibraltar Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1943 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1890s-stub