VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY
aiul Ijccamc the legal representative of sev-
eral railroad, mining and manufacturing
companies. From .\pril. 1901, to April i,
1903. he was ihc managing receiver of the
Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company,
and vice-president of the Virginia & South-
western Railroad Company. Mis first pub-
lic position was that of commonwealth at-
ttrney for Montgomery county, to which
he was appointed in 1870, and held for a
period of seven years, through consecutive
elections, and in 1877 he was elected to the
state senate. In October, 1900, he was ap-
l>ointed, by Gov. J. Hoge Tyler, a judge of
the supreme court of appeals, and held the
olTice to February 22, 1901, when the legis-
lature failed to return him to the ofhce. In
1903 he was elected to the state senate, for
the second time. He held high rank both
as a legislator and jurist, and his mind was
01 the highest order. He married Sue
Shanks, and had five children.
Whittle, Stafford Gorman, Ixirn at ■A\'tX)dstock." the family home, in Meck- lenburg county, Virginia, December 5, 1849. son of Commodore William Conway Whittle and Elizabeth Beverley Sinclair, l)is wife. The father was a commodore in the United Stales and Confederate States navies, and the mother was a daughter of Commodore Arthur Sinclair, of the United States navy. The son. Stafford G. Whittle, in early years took instructions in schools ill the city o£ Norfolk, but upon the break- ing out of the civil war he returned to his native county, and there continued his edu- cation. He was subsequently under the care of a tutor at his father's home in huchanan. Botetourt county, and the in- Mniclion was supplemented by a course of
study at the Chatham Male Institute, in
Pittsylvania county. .\t the age of eigh-
teen, he entered Washington College, under
the presidency of Gen. Robert E. Lee. The
following year (1868) he studied law at the
l.'niversity of Virginia, under Professor
iobn L!. Minor. In 1891 he was admitted
lo the bar, and entered upon law practice
in Henry county, and was soon employed
ii' most of the important litigation in the
counties of the district. After ten years
practice, he was appointed, February i,
i88i. by Gov. F. W. M. Holliday, judge of
the fourth judicial circuit, to fill the vacancy
occasioned by the resignation of Judge
Benjamin Green. The Democratic caucus
of the succeeding legislature nominated
him for the unexpired term, but he was
defeated by the Readjuster legislature, and
retired from the bench in March, 18S2. In
1H85 he was elected to the position by the
Democratic legislature, for a full eight year
term, and at its expiration was re-elected
lor another term, without opposition. Upon
the death of John Randolph Tucker, Judge
Whittle was unanimously chosen to suc-
ceed him as law professor at W'ashington
and Lee University, wdiich honor he de-
clined. In iQfio, he was called upon to sit
with President Judge James Keith, and
Judges B. R. Wellford, Jr., and Henry E.
Blair, as a special court of appeals in the
Peyton's administrate)r t.v. Stuart case, in-
volving the entire properly of the White
Sulphur Springs. WHien the Lynchburg
judicial circuit was abolished, that city and
Campbell county were attached to Judge
Whittle's circuit, upon the unanimous peti-
tion of their bars ; his circuit, by this ad-
dition, becoming the largest in the state.
On February 12, 1901, he was elected, by
