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Charles Algernon Whitmore

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"Chelsea". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1901.

Charles Algernon Whitmore (24 September 1851[1] – 10 September 1908[2]) was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1886 to 1906, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea.

Early life

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Whitmore was the son of the county court judge Charles Shaplabd Whitmore QC and his wife Elizabeth Katherine, a sister of Sir Henry Brownrigg, Bt.[1] He was educated at Eton and Balliol, and became a Fellow of All Souls in 1874, before being called to the bar in 1876 at the Inner Temple.[1]

Political career

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At the 1885 general election, Whitmore unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary borough of Chelsea in London, where he lost by 175 votes (2%) to the sitting MP, the Liberal Sir Charles Dilke, Bt.[3]

However, in early 1886 Dilke was involved in a high-profile divorce case which grew into a high-profile sex scandal, and at the next general election, in July 1886, Whitmore defeated Dilke with a majority of 176 votes.[3] He served for a time as private secretary to the Home Secretary Henry Matthews,[1] who as a barrister had conducted the cross-examination of Dilke, destroying the latter's career.[4]

Whitmore served as the Second Church Estates Commissioner, and in 1895 he was elected by London County Council as an Alderman for the Moderate Party, serving until 1901.[1] He was re-elected as MP for Chelsea at three further elections, but at the 1906 general election he was defeated by the Liberal candidate Emslie Horniman.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Debrett's House of Commons, and the Judicial Bench. London: Dean & Son. 1901. p. 158. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 3)
  3. ^ a b c Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1989]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 99. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  4. ^ Jenkins, Roy (September 2012) [1958]. "Chapter 13: The Case For Dilke". Dilke: A Victorian Tragedy. London: Bloomsbury Reader. ISBN 978-1448200498.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Chelsea
18861906
Succeeded by
Church of England titles
Preceded by Second Church Estates Commissioner
1892
Succeeded by