WHITHED, Richard II (d. aft. 1688), of Norman Court, West Tytherley, Hants and the Inner Temple, London.

Whithed came from a wealthy and well-established family, his father, Richard Whithed I*, being a senior figure among the Hampshire gentry. As a second son, however, Whithed pursued a legal career. After some months’ study at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, he was admitted to the Inner Temple before graduating BA early in 1649; this may help explain why it took him more than nine years to proceed to the bar (in June 1656), although it is just possible, given his father’s military rank, that at some point he saw some military service.9Al. Cant; I. Temple database.

Whithed’s career probably benefited from his kinship connections. In the early 1650s his elder brother, Henry Whithed†, married a daughter of Richard Norton*, one of the most powerful parliamentarian figures in Hampshire, while his sister Frances married Nathaniel Fiennes I*, one of the most prominent members of Oliver Cromwell’s* ‘court’, and commissioner of the great seal. It may have been through Fiennes’s influence that in May 1655 Whithed was appointed one of the four clerks of the privy seal, although the letters patent were not granted until the end of June 1656. This position brought a salary of £150, as well as other fees, but it is not clear how long he held it.10Add. 4184, f. 103; Stowe 497, ff. 74v-75. He was certainly still in place in the summer of 1658, when satisfaction of his arrears of pay was ordered, and that autumn he took part, in his official capacity in Cromwell’s funeral procession.11TSP vii. 265; Burton’s Diary, ii. 524. Thereafter, however, there are no further references to connect him to the office.

In the elections for the 1659 Parliament, Whithed was returned for both Lymington and Stockbridge. His return at the former, on 5 January, may be accounted for by the family interest. Whithed’s father had represented the borough in 1628, and his brother Henry had been a burgess since 1647.12Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 42v. The Stockbridge election, however, was attended by confusion. On 31 January the Commons was informed that the sheriff of Hampshire had detained the return made by the bailiff of Stockbridge, and certified an alternative indenture for different men. It is unclear which named Whithed, and while the House referred the whole matter to the committee for privileges, the final outcome is unknown.13CJ vii. 595b. Whithed does not seem to have been compelled to choose which borough he wished to represent, and there appears to have been no question about his right to sit. On 28 January he was nominated to the committee for elections but there is no further evidence of any contribution to the proceedings of the assembly.14CJ vii. 594b.

Whithed’s attitude to the Restoration is likewise obscure. He sat in no further Parliaments, and appears not to have been re-appointed to his privy seal post. His absence from Parliament may be attributed to his limited personal standing within Hampshire, the eclipse of his family’s electoral interest at Lymington, and deference to the claims of his elder brother. Henry Whithed was returned for Portsmouth in 1660 and for Stockbridge in 1679 and 1680.15HP Commons 1640-1660. Richard’s post-Restoration career is more difficult to follow, although he is known to have been active on the corporation at Lymington, at least in the early 1660s.16Hants RO, 27M74/DBC2, f. 55v. He is not to be confused with his nephew, Richard Whithed†, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Keck†, and who represented Stockbridge in 1689 and 1690.17Hants RO, 5M50/2045. The date of Withed’s death is also uncertain. He was not named in the 1684 will of his elder brother, but is mentioned with his younger brother John as trustees of Hampshire property in the will of their nephew Richard, drafted in 1685 and rewritten in August 1688, and was repaid a debt in that of their sister Anne, last dated on 5 March 1689.18PROB11/378/261; PROB 11/421/282; PROB11/395/111; Add. Ch. 54237. There is no surviving evidence that the former MP married or had children.