William Whateley

William Whateley (2 November 1794 – 15 November 1862) was an English barrister. He was noted as a supporter of the Conservative Party and the Church of England. Life He was born in Birmingham, the second son of William Whateley, a solicitor from Birmingham and Handsworth, and his wife, Mary. The solicitor and coroner, John Welchman Whateley (1792–1874) was his elder brother. His youngest sister, Caroline, married James Traill. A George Whateley, of Waterloo Street, Birmingham, appearing in 1846 before a parliamentary committee on the voting system, referred to "Mr. William Whateley of the Oxford circuit" as his brother. In November 1813, aged 19, Whateley was admitted to Lincoln's Inn. He matriculated at New College, Oxford in 1815 aged 21, graduating B.A. in 1820, M.A. in 1825. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1825, and then went the Oxford circuit. In 1826 he represented one of the candidates in the parliamentary election, and was noted there by John Marriott Davenport for his "platitudes and wit". He became Leader of the Oxford circuit. In 1841, he became a bencher of the Inner Temple, and a Queen's Counsel. In 1847, Whateley stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate, in , but was defeated by John Twizell Wawn, the Liberal. Again, in the 1852 United Kingdom general election, he stood as the Conservative candidate for , but was unsuccessful against two Whigs, Thomas Phinn and George Treweeke Scobell.