Early Life
Whitaker was born at the Deanery Manor House, Bampton, Oxfordshire, England on 23 April 1812, the son of Frederick Whitaker and Susanna Whitaker (née Humfrey). Frederick junior undertook a legal education and became a solicitor and attorney at the age of 27. A year later he sailed to Australia and then New Zealand. He married Jane Augusta Griffith, stepdaughter of Alexander Shepherd (Colonial Treasurer) at St. Paul's Church in Auckland on 4 March 1843.
Whitaker lived in Auckland and was appointed a County Court judge until this position was abolished in 1844, at which time he returned to work as a lawyer. He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council in March 1845. He also served as a major in the militia.
After leaving the Legislative Council in 1846 he became a member again in May 1853. He also became the provincial law officer for Auckland Province in 1854.
Read more about this topic: Frederick Whitaker
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)