Transcript

of

Rev. George Ferris Whidborne [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol.  XLII, (1910), pp.52-53.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1910 Cullompton meeting. The Rev Whidborne was born in July 1845 in Plymouth. His father, also Rev. G.F. Whidborne, was 37 and his mother, Rosa, was 27. He married Lucebella Margarita (Margaret) Chambers on 4 June 1889. They had seven children in 16 years. A biography with portrait is available in Wikitree.  For over twenty years Rev. Whidborne sketched and described the Devonian Era fauna of the South West of England in the annual volumes of the Palaeontographical Society. He is also recorded as leading a Sedgwick Club party in 1880. He served for many years on the Palaeontographical Society’s council, and contributed papers to the Quarterly journal of the Geological Society (1881 and 1883), as well as numerous papers to the Geological Magazine (1889-1901). A further biography is available here.  The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for fr

The Rev. G. F. Whidborne was born at Plymouth in 1846, being the son of the Rev. George Ferris Whidborne, whose ancestor. Sir Richard Whidborne, was one of the men of Devon who provided ships to repel the Spanish Armada, and was one of the founders of Newfoundland. He was educated at Clifton College, and was Scholar of Corpus Christi College,, Cambridge, at which University he graduated in Honours, B.A. in 1868, M.A. in 1872. He was ordained deacon in 1881, and priest in 1882, by the Bishop of London; was curate of St. Pancras, London, 1881-6, and of St. Paul's, Onslow Square, 1886-8; Vicar of St. George's, Battersea, 1888-96, and succeeded to The Priory, Westbury-on-Trym, Gloucester, in 1894, residing there for seven years. He was a Life Governor of the Church Missionary Society, a Hyndman Trustee, a member of the Islington Trust and of the Church Trust; he was also one of the founders and for many years honorary secretary of the National Protestant Church Union, and took a great interest in the work of the National Church Union.
Mr. Whidborne was well known as a geologist, and since 1876 had been a Fellow of the Geological Society, and for many years a member of the Council, contributing many papers to that Society's Journal. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a member of the Council of the Palæontographical Society, and several times its Vice-President; and also a member of the Victoria Institute. He became a life member of the Devonshire Association in 1873. Between the years 1888 and 1898 he published three volumes on the Devonian fauna of the south of England.
Mr. Whidborne was a great traveller, and among other countries had visited Canada with the British Association. He was also a member of the Athenaeum and National Clubs.
In 1889, he married Margaret, elder daughter of Charles Harcourt Chambers, barrister-at-law, and had issue three sons and four daughters.
Mr. Whidborne was well known for his religious and philanthropic work, and though a scientist he always insisted that there was nothing in the teachings of science incompatible with the existence of a Supreme Being.
He died at his seat, Hammerwood, East Grinstead, after a short illness, from the effects of influenza followed by pneumonia, on 14 February, 1910.