Early Life
Jack White was born in 1879, at Whitehall, in Broughshane, County Antrim, Ireland. An only son, he initially followed in the footsteps of his father, Sir George Stuart White, being educated at Winchester College, and later at Sandhurst Military Academy. At the age of eighteen, White saw service with the 1st Gordon Highlanders in the Boer War in South Africa. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order, The London Gazette of 2 July 1901 in its DSO citation reporting
James Robert White, Lieutenant, The Gordon Highlanders. For having, when taken prisoner, owing to mistaking advancing Boers for British troops, and stripped, escaped from custody and run six miles, warning Colonel de Lisle, and advancing with him to the relief of Major Sladen's force.
White started to develop a dislike for the British ruling classes while in South Africa. It is said that at the battle of Doorknop he was one of the first to go over the top. Looking back, he saw one 17-year-old youth shivering with fright in the trench. An officer cried "shoot him". White is said to have aimed his pistol at the officer and replied, "Do so, and I'll shoot you".
Between 1901 and 1905, he served as aide-de-camp to his father, who was then Governor of Gibraltar, and it was here that he met Mercedes 'Dollie' Mosley, the daughter of a Gibraltar business family and a Roman Catholic. Despite family objections on both sides (the Whites were Anglican), the couple married. White continued his military service in India and Scotland.
Read more about this topic: Jack White (trade Unionist)
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