Colonel Sir Francis Henry Douglas Charlton Whitmore, 1st Baronet (20 April 1872 – 12 June 1962) was a British military officer and landowner.

Family home

He was the son of Thomas Whitmore, an officer in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

. Thomas had inherited

Orsett Hall Orsett Hall was a 17th-century Grade II listed building in Orsett, Essex (de-listed on 10 March 2008). It was set in of parkland and was the centre of the Orsett Hall agricultural estate. The house was destroyed by fire on 11 May 2007 and rebuilt ...

(in

Orsett Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771. History It has historic ...

, Essex) as a result of a gambling debt incurred by the previous owner, Digby Wingfield. The estate passed to Francis on the death of his father in 1907.

Military career

Whitmore was educated at Eton and in 1892 he was commissioned into the 1st Essex Artillery Volunteers. He later transferred to the

Essex Yeomanry The Essex Yeomanry was a Reserve unit of the British Army that originated in 1797 as local Yeomanry Cavalry Troops in Essex. Reformed after the experience gained in the Second Boer War, it saw active service as cavalry in World War I and as ar ...

and served in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

with the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

. He served in 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 ...

and was promoted

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in 1915, eventually commanding the

10th Royal Hussars The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince A ...

. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

four times, and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

in 1917. In the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

list he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). After the war he wrote ''The 10th (P.W.O.) Royal Hussars and the Essex Yeomanry during the European War, 1914–1918'' which was published in 1920. The Whitmore Arms, Orsett - geograph

Sir Francis became a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1899 and was

High Sheriff of Essex The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the ...

in 1922. He served as

Lord Lieutenant of Essex This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Since 1688, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Essex. *John Petre, 1st Baron Petre *John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford 1558–? *Robert Dudley, 1st Earl ...

from 1936 to 1958 and was created a baronet, of Orsett, in the County of Essex in 1954.

Family life

He was married twice, first to Violet Houldsworth (d. 1927) and subsequently to Ellis Johnsen (d. 2001). He had a son and a daughter by his second wife. He was a keen traveller, including a visit to the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

in New York in 1931 when it opened. Photograph albums and scrapbooks from his travels are in the Essex Record Office. Orsett church contains hatchments to his father and his first wife – the latter was painted by Sir Francis himself. The other hatchments in the church were restored at the expense of Sir Francis following a fire. He also painted portraits, two of which are in the Thurrock Museum. Sir Francis died in 1962 and was buried with full military honours at Orsett parish church. The funeral was an important local event and the head gardener on the Orsett Estate, Alfred George Cuthbert, took a number of photos of the funeral for his album. Four of these were published in 2018. The baronetcy and estate were inherited by his son, Sir

John Whitmore (racing driver) Sir John Henry Douglas Whitmore, 2nd Baronet (16 October 1937 – 28 April 2017) was a pioneer of the executive coaching industry, an author and British racing driver. Family life and background John Whitmore was born on 16 October 1937, the ...

. He is commemorated in the name of a local pub, The Whitmore Arms. His portrait from W.W.1 hangs in the headquarters of the 70th (Essex Yeomanry) Signal Squadron. A later portrait in Lord Lieutenant's uniform by

Herbert James Gunn Sir Herbert James Gunn RA RP (30 June 1893– 30 December 1964) was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter. Early life Sir Herbert James Gunn (also known as Sir James Gunn) was born in Glasgow on 30 June 1893, the son of Richard Gunn, a dr ...

hangs in the Shire Hall in Chelmsford - se
Sir Francis Whitmore
On 10 September 2015, a Thurrock Heritage plaque was unveiled commemorating Sir Francis and other Officers and Men of the Essex Yeomanry and 10th Royal Hussars who served in the Great War.
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Francis 1872 births 1962 deaths 10th Royal Hussars officers Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George English justices of the peace High Sheriffs of Essex Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Lord-Lieutenants of Essex People educated at Eton College People from Orsett Royal Artillery officers Imperial Yeomanry officers Essex Yeomanry officers