WHITMORE, William (1714-71), of Lower Slaughter, Glos.

William Whitmore sat on the interest of his eldest brother, Sir Thomas Whitmore, M.P. for Bridgnorth 1734-54; all his elections were unopposed. Both were Old Whigs and of the ‘Shropshire gang’ under Lord Powis’s management and care. When in March 1761 Powis was turned out of the lord lieutenancy of Shropshire to make room for Lord Bath, Whitmore was one of the Shropshire country gentlemen who never quite accepted Bath.Corresp. 6, 7 Nov. 1761, Powis mss, Powis Castle. To Newcastle the Whitmores were an outstanding example of loyalty—he wrote to the Duke of Devonshire on 10 Jan. 1762: ‘Whitmores and some few will stand by me, in spite of everybody; not as one of the King’s ministers, but from their private regard to me.’Namier, Structure, 296. So they did, even after Powis had deserted him in November 1762: William Whitmore voted against the peace preliminaries on 9 Dec. 1762; was marked as Opposition in Jenkinson’s list of the autumn of 1763; voted with them over general warrants; and was classed as a friend by Rockingham and Newcastle in 1766-7; but he did not vote either on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767, or nullum tempus, 17 Feb. 1768. In the new Parliament he voted again with Opposition over Wilkes on 27 Jan. and 2 Feb. 1769: these were his last recorded votes—he does not appear in any of the eight extant division lists between that date and his death on 22 July 1771. No speech by him in the House is known.