William Henry Whiteley

Hon. William Henry Whiteley III M.B.E (5 June 1834–18 August 1903) is best known as the inventor of the cod trap, a large box-like device consisting of netting with an opening where the cod are directed by a long net extending to the shore, which he invented in 1865.

Biography

Willian Henry Whiteley III was born on June 5, 1834 in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts to William Henry Whiteley II(1812-1844) and Ann Marie Kelson(1812-1887) He was born into a prominent inventing family, His Grandfather William Henry Whiteley (1790-1863)and his sons William (1812-1844), Edward (1824-1883) and John (1827-1900) had all been assistants in the family business which was based in Ilsington,London where William had been working as an inventor for kitchen appliance makers, he also worked for a company experimenting with photography. Most of William's inventing was funded by his late father William Henry Whitely I, Squire of Morley(1754-1819)

After His son immigrated to Boston in the late 1830s, he and his two other sons soon followed and set up the family business, his son William II later married and had children one of them being William Henry Whiteley III

Williams childhood was spent in the Boston neighborhood of Cambridge, he was the oldest child of the family having 4 younger siblings Joseph (1838), Louisa Mary (1840), and twins Alfred James and Charles(1842). As a child he apprenticed as a printer for the American Traveller, his duty was to run to the ships that docked in the harbour and receive the latest news from Europe.

In 1844 his father William II was murdered, he had been crossing the St. Charles River bridge while returning from work, and was attacked by thugs who took the days earnings from him, and then threw him in the river where he drowned without regaining consciousness.

Williams mother Marie shortly after remarried to a Fishing Merchant James Buckle(1813-1894), and not much later the family sailed from Boston to the new family home in Labrador, Canada where James family had been Fishing since the mid 1700's. While there William began learning the trade of fishing from his stepfather whom he called "Uncle Jack".

In 1858 William was called to England, to received an inheritance from his Great-Uncle William Jury(1799-1851), the inheritance consisted of a number of cottages and land parcels, in the Manor of Overton of Hampshire. Upon arrival William took up boarding with his Grandmothers grand-niece Lydia Thompson and her family. While staying their Lydia's eldest daughter Louisa caught his eye and he made a propasal of marriage to lydias father Charles, after a large argument William was bansished from the house and was forced to seek lodgings. But William in his persistance, eventually won the hand of Louisa, and the approval of her father. They were married in the Islington Chaple of the Congregationalist's on February 9th, 1859. After being wed, William finished up their affairs, and they took a short honeymoon on the Brighton. And In April 1859 they sailed to St. John on a Schooner, bound for Bonne Esperance.

[http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm_v2.php?id=display_original&lg=English&fl=0&rd=66385|frame| Louisa Whiteley & Family 1911]

William Henry Whiteley was born to William Henry Whiteley II and Ann Marie Kelson in Boston, He was apprenticed as a printer. After his father’s murder during a payroll robbery in 1844 and his mother’s remarriage to James Buckle, the family moved to the southern Labrador coast. William learned to fish with his stepfather, James Buckle, and in his early twenties was operating his own small fishing business on the island of Bonne-Espérance, Quebec. In 1858 William Henry Whiteley traveled to England to claim his inheritance from a great-uncle. En route, he met and married Louisa Thompson. Louisa gave him the nickname "Bossy." The couple returned to Labrador and he started up a major fishing business on Bonne-Espérance. The business employed a number of families in the cod, salmon, herring, and seal fisheries. Bossy Whiteley was the inventor of the Whiteley Cod Trap, which was in use until the decline of the cod fishery. He died in August 1903 in St. John's, Newfoundland.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7140 Biography at "the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]