Charles Algernon Whitmore (24 September 1851 – 10 September 1908) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1886 to 1906, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelsea.

Early life

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. He was educated at Eton and Balliol, and became a

Fellow of All Souls All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

in 1874, before being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1876 at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

Political career

At the 1885 general election, Whitmore unsuccessfully contested the

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Chelsea in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he lost by 175 votes (2%) to the sitting MP, the Liberal Sir Charles Dilke, Bt. 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. He served for a time as private secretary to the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

Henry Matthews, who as a barrister had conducted the

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Law of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Austra ...

of Dilke, destroying the latter's career. Whitmore served as the

Second Church Estates Commissioner The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

, and in 1895 he was elected by

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

as an

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for the

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, serving until 1901. He was re-elected as MP for Chelsea at three further elections, but at the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting e ...

he was defeated by the Liberal candidate

Emslie Horniman Emslie John Horniman (1863 – 11 July 1932) was a British anthropologist, philanthropist and Liberal Party politician. The son of Frederick Horniman, sometime Liberal member of parliament for Penryn and Falmouth, Horniman was educated priva ...

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Charles Algernon 1851 births 1908 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 People educated at Eton College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Members of London County Council Members of the Inner Temple Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Church Estates Commissioners English barristers