Arthur Whetham

Major-General Arthur Whetham (c. 1783 – 13 May 1853) was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth.

Arthur Whetham
Born	c. 1783
Died	13 May 1853
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Rank	Major-General
Battles / wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars

Family and early life

Arthur Whetham was born in 1783^[a] the son of John Whetham.^[1]

It is known that he was a descendant of Colonel Nathaniel Whetham,^[1] and Arthur was a brother of a different Colonel John Whetham,^[2] an officer in the 12th Regiment of Foot, who died during a Siege of Gibraltar.^[2]

There was also a cousin of his^[1] named Lieutenant General Arthur Whetham (1753^[3]-1813^[3][1]), who was the Governor of Portsmouth.^[1][3]

His great uncle, Thomas Whetham,^[1] was also a general who commanded the 12th Regiment of Foot^[4][1] from 1725 to 1741.^[4]

Military career

Whetham was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 40th Regiment of Foot in 1799.^[1] He took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799 and was wounded at the Battle of Montevideo in February 1807 during the British invasions of the River Plate.^[1] He became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer Commanding South-West District in January 1808.^[5] He was also colonel of the 60th Regiment of Foot.^[6]

He died on 13 May 1853.^[1][b]

Notes

1. He was aged 70 when he died, 70 years before 1853 was 1783
2. His obituary is in the 1853 deaths section, though it is never explicitly specified what year he passed. It is very clearly written at the beginning of it that he died on 13 May, though