Item 125: Bookplate, John William Whittaker, no date

Item — Box: 20, Folder: 125

Staff Only

Bookplate, John William Whittaker, no date

Dates

Created: no date

Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities

Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Type of Material:

Bookplate

Condition Note:

Good, no issues.

Measurements:

2 ½ in. x 3 ¾ in.

Title:

John William Whittaker, Blackburn Lancashire

Description:

A bookplate for John William Whittaker. It features a family crest with a horse on top. Bookplate collector, clergyman, teacher, local politician and astronomer John William Whittaker was born on January 13, 1791 in Manchester, England. His parents were William Whittaker and Sarah Whittaker. “He was an English Anglican Clergyman.” He went to Bradford Grammar School and St. John’s College Cambridge. When he was at St. Johns earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1814, a Master of Arts three years later, a Bachelor of Divinity in 1824, and Doctor of Divinity in 1830. He was appointed as examining chaplain to Charles-Manners Sutton-Archbishop of Canterbury, who granted him the living of Blackburn Lancashire in 1822. When he came to Blackburn, Anglicansim wasn’t doing so well, with there being only three churches in the town and people weren’t going. He wanted to build churches and teach people by starting Sunday school. He also ran for office, locally. One of the churches he started was Holy Trinity Church, which was created by his cousin, Edmund Sharpe, who was just starting in the architecture field. It was the biggest church out of forty that he made, and it was the only one to include “transepts.” It is thought that Whittaker is the one who wanted the transepts, and demanded they be there, according to his Biographer, John Hughes. Hughes describes this church as Sharpe’s Piece de Resistance. While he was vicar of Blackburn, the Parish Church was reconstructed including twelve new churches across town. Whittaker also liked philology, geology, and astronomy and he helped start the Royal Astronomical Society. He released a number of papers relating to religion, his sermons, periodicals, and a paper called “Ancient Etymologies, especially Celtic” to the British Archeological Association. He got married to Mary Houghton Feilden Whittaker on June 20, 1825, and they had nine children, one of whom was Edmund Juxon Wemyss Whittaker. He died on August 3, 1854 in Blackburn, Lancashire.