Whitaker family

The Whitaker family is an English noble family that can be traced back to Benjamin Ingham and Joseph Whitaker, in later years, who later became one of the richest people in Europe due to Marsala wine, banking, and shipping empire in Sicily.[1][2] Members of the family have held the hereditary title of Whitaker Baronets.

Notable members

Joseph Whitaker can be traced back in Palermo, Italy, to 1820s when Benjamin Ingham(1784-1861) invited his Whitaker nephews to go into business with him. Joseph Whitaker Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker(1850-1936) was the son of Joseph Whitaker (1802-1884) - he was an archeologist, ornithologist, and a sportsman. He is famous of his birds of Tunisia work, in addition to being among the pioneers of US Città di Palermo, a Sicilian football club. Upon inheriting the Ingham Marsala wine business, Whitaker went on to inherit huge vineyards in addition to the Ingham's banking empire owned by his grandfather.[3]

Joseph Whitaker built Villa Malfitano in Palermo, an Italian mansion close proximity to Zisa Castle on the Via Dante.[4] His wife Tina, was General Scalia Alfonso’s daughter who had traveled to Palermo few years before Risorgimento. One of their two daughters got married to General Antonio Giogio who was a War minister in Italy and is remembered for fighting the First and Second Wars in Abyssinia. This means the family was deeply rooted in the upper ranks of Italian culture.

Fortune

Joseph Whitaker has been associated with a significant number of properties in Italy. The family is highly known for a fortune made in Sicily courtesy of producing and exporting Marsala wine. Benjamin Ingham is considered the main source of the Whitaker family wealth and had sailed and arrived in Sicily in 1809, where he focused on manufacturing and exporting wool and wine. Considering that he had no children of his own, there was some speculation as to whom he would leave his fortune -it was not left to his eldest nephew, but to William and Joseph Whitaker.[1]

The other great fortune owned by the family was the Villa Malfitano. Joseph and his wife were residents of Palermo where they erected Villa Malfitano, Art Nouveau designed. Despite being a 19th century structure, Villa Malfitano currently preserves undamaged its priceless furnishings and valuable collections. The Agave cultivation was another key initiative that generated great fortunes for Whitaker family in Italy. Joseph Whitaker introduced farming of unyielding Agave var. The plant is believed to have originated in Mexico and thus requires warm climate for maximum yield. This enabled the family to partner with various textile industries. By the time Joseph died, he had accumulated wealth valued at approximately £12,000,000, and this would presently translate to £1 billion or perhaps higher.[5]

William Ingham Whitaker’s was married to Hon. Hilda Guilhermina Dundas, who was the daughter to Charles Saunders Melville Dundas, 6th Viscount of Melville. William and Hilda had two children and left his fortune and estate Pylewell Park to his eldest daughter Lady Elspeth Grace Whitaker, 6th Marchioness of Northampton. Which was later left to her son John Christopher Henry Ingham Roper-Curzon, 20th Baron of Teynham.[6][7][8]

Lifestyle

Joseph Whitaker himself who was an archeologist, ornithologist and a sportsman. On sportsmanship, Joseph Whitaker is remembered for having pioneered the US Città di Palermo, a Sicilian football club. Edward VII was equally associated with the Whitaker family. He was King of Britain’s UK and Ireland, in addition to being the Emperor of India. The family members were equally aristocrats, signifying their difference from other people in Palermo.[9]

During the Belle Époque years, the home of Joseph Whitaker became the place for where all lavish parties were hosted and graced by Italian and British royalties as an approach celebrating the European community. The key noble and royal friends included Benito Mussolini, Richard Wagner, Edward VII, Queen Mary and Empress Eugenie. These were mostly friends of Tina Whitaker.

Philanthropy

Whitaker was personally the initiator and president of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ society based in Palermo, besides being a key figure in the institutionalization of US Città di Palermo, during the late 1880s, thus being remembered as the Club’s first president.[9]

In the year 1871, both Benjamin Ingham and Joseph Whitaker were close to God and declared their plan of building, jointly, a place of worship which reflected the type of worship that was being done in the Church of England for the purposes of serving the spiritual purposes for their fellow countrymen of Protestant denomination residing or touring Palermo. Both Benjamin Ingham's and Whitaker’s families met all the church construction expenses. Following Joseph Whitaker's death, Joshua Whitaker, his son, inherited the patronage and interest of the church. Upon Joshua Whitaker’s death, the mantle of leadership was given to his brother, eventually the patronage and interest of the church was passed to the Gibraltar Diocesan Trust.[3]

Also donating the mansion Villa Malfitano, to be the headquarters of Whitaker Foundation.[4]

References
  1. "SOME NOTABLE OSSETT PEOPLE". Ossett. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  2. "TENUTA WHITAKER". Dalla Terra. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  3. Whitaker, Joseph (2015). The Birds Of Tunisia. 2 (1st ed.). Forgotten Books. p. 440. ISBN 978-1332235346.
  4. "COMMITTEE ON BUDGETARY CONTROL" (PDF). www.europarl.europa.eu.
  5. Marcuzzo, Maria Cristina; Rosselli, Annalisa (1990). Ricardo and the Gold Standard (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 65. ISBN 1349104930.
  6. "A History of Pylewell Park". Pylewell Park. 1 March 2016.
  7. Walford, Edward (1 January 1860). "The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland". Dalcassian Publishing Company – via Google Books.
  8. "Pylewell Park, Lymington - Hampshire Wedding & Event Venue". burlisonphotography.com.
  9. Whitaker, Joseph (1905). The Birds Of Tunisia (1st ed.). London: R.H. Porter. ASIN B00188LTGC.
  • Lo Valvo, F. and Massa B. Catalogo Della Collezione Ornitologica Joseph Whitaker (1850–1936) Estrato da: Il Naturalista Siciliano.S.IV.XXIV (Suppl.), 2000 13 figures.
  • Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
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