Fred Whibley

Fredrick George Whibley
Fred Whibley, Island trader on Niutao 1898 to 1909 (Fred Whibley c.1888)
Born1855
Sittingbourne, Kent, England
Died1919
Funafuti, Tuvalu, (Then known as the Ellice Islands)
Other namesFred Whibley
Occupationisland trader
Parent(s)Ambrose Whibley and Anne Parkes

Fredrick George Whibley (1855–1919) abandoned a career as clerk in a London bank to escape from the constraints and social expectations of respectability in the Victorian era. He ended up as a copra trader on Niutao in the Ellice Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

Whibley was born in 1855 in Sittingbourne, Kent, England,[1] the youngest son of Ambrose Whibley,[2] silk mercer, and his first wife, Anne Parkes. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School.

After the death of Anne in 1855 Ambrose Whibley married Mary Jean Davy,[3] the daughter of John Davy, an iron merchant of Bristol. Fred Whibley was the half-brother of Charles Whibley, journalist and writer and Leonard Whibley, classical scholar and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge from 1899-1910. Fred’s sister, Eliza Eleanor (Lillie) Whibley, married John T. Arundel, owner of John T Arundel and Company which operated in the Pacific.

  1. ^ 1881 British Census information: Birth Year, 1855; Birthplace, Sittingbourne, Kent, England, Age, 26; Occupation, Clerk, Marital Status, Unmarried
  2. ^ 1881 British Census information: born 1821 Brenchley, Kent, England; Occupation, Silk Mercer; Dwelling, 39 Park St (East) (2 Shops) (Cavendish House); Census Place, Bristol St Augustine, Gloucester, England
  3. ^ Mary J. Whibley, 1881 British Census information: Birth Year, 1832; Birthplace, Ashwater, Devon, England