WHITAKER
609
WHITBY
(if the (lofi-nco of Washinnfon on tho Xirginia siilr.
Aftrr great gallantry at Antiotani and KrediTicksburg,
with his division in (lonoral Sicklrs's corps, he was
much exposed at Chancellorsville. In a skirmish at
thecloseof the battle he was severely wounded in the
neck by a sharpshooter, and received the last rites of the
Church on the battle-field. Taken to Washington he
was breveted brigadier-general on 4 May, major-
general of volunteers on 6 May, and major-general by
brevet on 7 May, only a few hours before his death.
Lamb, Encyclopedia of American Biography: Cullum. Biographical Register of (,'. S. A, Milil. Academy (Boston and New York, 1891).
Regina Randolph Jenkins.
Whitaker, Thomas, Vener.^le, b. at Burnlej',
Lancashu-e, 1614; martjTed at Lancaster, 7 August, 1646. Son of Thomas Whitaker, schoolmaster, and Helen, liis wife, he was educated first at his father's school. By the influence of the Towneley family he was then sent to Valladolid, where he studied for the priesthood. After ordination (1638) he returned to England, and for five years laboured in Lancashire. On one occasion he was arrested, but escaped while being conducted to Lancaster Castle. He was again seized at Place Hall in Goosenargh, and committed to Lancaster Castle, 7 August, 1643, being treated with unusual severity and undergoing sohtary confine- ment for six weeks. For three years he remained in prison, remarkable for his spirit of continual prayer and charity to hLs fellow-captives. Before his trial he made a month's retreat in preparation for death. Though naturally timorous, and suffering much from the anticipation of his execution, he steadfastly declinetl all attempts made to induce him to conform to Anglicanism by the offer of his life. He suffered with Yen. Edward Bamber and Yen. John Woodcock O.S.F., saying to the sheriff: "Use your pleasure willi me, a reprieve or even a pardon upon your condition.s I utterly refu.se".
Chali.on*er, Memoirs of Missionary Priests (London, 1741-2), following KxARESBOROUGH who had before him a contemporary of the three martjTs. EdwIN BurTON.
Whitbread, Thomas, Venerable, alias Har-
couRT, b. in Essex, 1618; martyred at Tyburn, 30
June, 1679. He was educated at St. Omer's, and
entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept.,
1635. Coming upon the English mission in 1647, he
laboured for more than thirty years, mostly in the
eastern counties. On 8 Dec, 16.52, he was profes,sed
of the four vows. Twice he was superior of the Suf-
folk District, once of the Lincolnshire District, and
finally in 1678 he was declared provincial. In this
capacity he refused to admit Titus Oates as a member
of the Society, and shortly afterwards the celebrated
plot was fabricated. Father Whitbread was arrested
in London on Michaelmas Day, 1678, but was so ill
that he could not be moved to Newgate till three
months later. He was first indicted at the Old
Bailey, 17 Dec, 1678, but, the evidence against him
and his companions breaking down, he was remanded
and kept in pri.son till 13 June, 1679; later, he was
again indictefi, and with four other fathers was found
guilty on the perjured evidence of Oates, Bedloe, and
Dugdale (see Barrow, William, Venerable; the
others were Fathers Fenwick, Gavin, and Turner).
After the execution the remains of the martyrs were
buried in St. Giles's in the Fields. Father Whit-
bread wTote "Devout Elevation of the Soul to God"
and two short poems, "To Death" and "To his Soul",
which are printed in "The Remonstrance of Piety
and Innocence".
The Remonstrance of Piety and Innocence (London, 16S3) ; Tanner, Brfrisrfia/io/eiicisaoonis (Prague, 1683) ; F(<»ri« Anglo- Bnvaricus (Li^^e, 16S.5); Tryals and condemnation of Thomas While alias WhUbread (London, 1879); Smith in Cobbett. .S(a(e TriaU, VII; FoLET. Colt. Eng. Prov. S.J.. V. VII (London, 1879-1883). ii, and all works dealing with the Oates Plot; Cooper in Did. Nat. Biog.. s. v. Harcourl, Thomas.
Edwin Burton. XV.— 39
Whitby (fnriiii'rly calleil Streoneshalh), Abbey
OF, a Benedict ine niiinasterv in the North Riding
of Yorkshire, England, was founded about 6.57, as a
double mona.stery, by (Jswy, King of Northumberland.
The first abbess was St. Hilda, under whom the com-
munity seems to have reached a considerable size,
the conventual buildings being large enough to ac-
commodate the Council, held in 664, to determine the
controversy respecting the observance of Ea.ster. On
St. Hilda's death, about 680, Aelfleda, daughter of
King Oswy, succeeded as abbess, and the monastery
continued to flourish until about 867, when it was en-
tirely destroyed by the Danes. The community was
dispersed, the abbot, Titus, fleeing to Glastonbury
and taking with him the relics of St. Hilda. No at-
tempt was made to restore the monastery until after
the Norman conquest, when this district of Yorkshire
was granted to Hugh Lupus, first Earl of Chester, who
assigned Whitby to William de Percy, ancestor of the
earls of Northumberland, by whom the monastery
was refounded towards the end of the Conqueror's
reign. Keinfrid, a monk of Evesham, was appointed
prior of the restored foundation, which was richly en-
dowed by the founder. William the Conqueror him-
self also granted fo the monastery a charter of priv-
ileges. These were confirmed and extended by Henry I,
in who.se reign the priory was raised to the rank of an
abbey, but the abbot, though regarded as one of the
spiritual barons of England, did not sit in Parliament.
The story of the house during the Middle Ages
does not call for any special comment, the only ex-
ceptional circum.stances in its history being occasional
damage by pirates, to which its position on the coast
laid it open. When the lesser religious houses had all
been .suppres.sed bj' Henry VIII and it became clear
that the same fate awaited the greater ones, the Abbot
of Whitby obtained permission to resign his office so
that he might not be called upon to hand over the
house to the king. The surrender was therefore made
by the prior under date 14 December, 1.540, the net
income at the time being returned as £437 28. 9d.; the
site and ruins being granted .some years later f o John,
Earl of Warwick. Among the monks of Whitby the
most famous is the Saxon poet, Caidmon.
The Mon.'ustery of St. Hilda was so completely destroyed by the Danes that nothing even of its foundations is known to remain. Of de Percy's build- ing the greater part w.as pulled down and the mon- a.stery rebuilt on a larger scale in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At the dis.solution the roofs were removed, but most of the walls remained stand- ing until 1763, when the entire western side of the monastery was blown down. Since that date the destrtiction has been rapid owing to the very exposed position of the ruins. In 18.30 the remains of the cen- tral tower collapsed, and nine years later a large part
