Major-General Arthur Whetham (c. 1783 – 13 May 1853) was a British Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, and later became Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth.
Family and Early Life
Arthur Whetham was born around 1783, the son of John Whetham. He was a descendant of Colonel Nathaniel Whetham, and his brother was Colonel John Whetham, an officer in the 12th Regiment of Foot who died during the Siege of Gibraltar. His cousin, Lieutenant General Arthur Whetham (1753–1813), served as Governor of Portsmouth. His great-uncle, Thomas Whetham (c. 1665–1741), was also a general who commanded the 12th Regiment of Foot from 1725 to 1741.
Military Career
Whetham was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 40th Regiment of Foot in 1799. 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 (in present-day Uruguay). In January 1808, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer Commanding South-West District. He also served as colonel of the 60th Regiment of Foot.
He died on 13 May 1853 at the age of 70.
References
- Gentleman's Magazine, 1853 (obituary).
- Jacks, Leonard (1882). The great houses of Nottinghamshire and the county families.
- "British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793–1815", The Napoleon Series.
- "No. 16112", The London Gazette, 23 January 1808, p. 128.
