Charles Allen Du Val

Henry Whaite 1803-1869

Henry Whaite was born in 1803, the son of John Whaite and his wife nee Mary Clayton. His ancestors had originated in Nottinghamshire.

Like his brother Thomas Whaite he became well known in Manchester as an artist, and a renowned flag and banner maker.

He opened a “Fine Art Gallery” at No. 4 Bridge Street in Manchester, which was a spectacular building selling artists’ supplies, microscopes, opera glasses, magic lanterns and “dissolving views. A conjuror could be hired there by the evening. Whaite was also the agent for “diaphanies” for fixing on window panes to simulate stained glass. In addition the premises housed an aviary, a Punch and Judy Show, and a photographic studio producing cartes-de-visites.

Henry Whaite was Grand Master of the Order of Oddfellows, and an honoured guest when the True Benevolent Lodge celebrated their anniversary on 12 August 1844 at the Sun Inn near his premises in Bridge Street. When the annual Oddfellows’ Ball was held at Ashton Town Hall on 30 December 1845, the room “was tastefully decorated with flags, paintings, engravings, &c., the principal feature of which was the new flag bearing the arms of the order, with the arms of the Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund, painted by Mr. Whaite, of Manchester, and presented to the fund by the members by voluntary subscription”. In July 1846, when a grand procession through Manchester was planned to celebrate the repeal of the Corn Laws, it was reported that “Gay banners and flags have been in extraordinary demand --- One manufacturer alone, Mr. Whaite, carver and gilder, of Bridge-street, stated that up to yesterday he had furnished more than 600 flags, banners, and transparencies”.

Each Christmas, from 1851, Henry Whaite held a spectacular “German Fair” in his Bridge Street gallery, with a huge illuminated Christmas tree swathed in ornaments. It could be closely inspected from a broad staircase leading to a balcony bedecked with toys from all over the world. It was immensely popular. Around the base of the tree was a display that differed each year, such as a Nativity Scene, Gulliver in Lilliput, or Robinson Crusoe.

Henry Whaite died in 1869 but the Gallery was kept on by his son Frederick Whaite (who was a witness at the wedding of Elizabeth Ellen Du Val to his cousin in 1864).

On 3 April 1878 the parapet of Whaite’s Fine Art Gallery crashed to the pavement on to a young man and woman and two boys who were passing by. The young woman recovered from her injuries, but sadly the man was killed. It was at first thought that the two boys lay buried beneath the rubble, “their caps having been found near the debris, but it transpired that they had been struck only by a few light fragments of detached mortar, and in their fright they had immediately run home”. The inquest exonerated Mr F.A. Whaite from all blame. The jury “found that the fall was owing to the faulty construction of the building. They further stated that they thought the dangerous state of the premises could not have been ascertained by Mr. Whaite”.

The German Fair continued, but gradually it became less spectacular, judging by the press reports. No longer was the trunk of the giant Christmas tree constructed from a gas pipe leading to the many branches where gas jets were lit. By 1885 it was just a real fir tree, although still bearing hundreds of coloured lights. No longer were these gas jets, thankfully enclosed in glass globes, but simply “coloured lights”.

For the visit of Queen Victoria to Manchester in 1887, as part of the national Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Gallery advertised “Triumphal Arches, Transparencies, Gas & Oil Illuminations and Firework Displays”. Frederick Whaite however became ill. The Gallery closed, and its loss, particularly the German Fair, was greatly lamented.

Frederick Whaite’s brother was Henry Clarence Whaite, an artist who settled with his family near Conway in North Wales, and became President of the Royal Cambrian Academy. His daughter Lily was also a renowned painter, who exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.