WHITMORE, William (?1681-1725), of Lower Slaughter, Glos. and Apley, nr. Bridgnorth, Salop.

The Whitmores were an ancient Shropshire family, who made their fortunes as London merchants in the sixteenth century. Returning to the county in 1582, they bought the Apley estate, 3 miles from Bridgnorth, later acquiring property in and around the borough. Under the early Stuarts they sat for the borough, after the Restoration establishing their influence so firmly that from 1660 to 1870, with only a single break, 1710-13, they or their nominees invariably held one seat, and during 41 years both seats.

William Whitmore had the distinction of being the only member of his family ever to lose an election at Bridgnorth, that of 1710. A staunch Whig, he married into a prominent Bridgnorth burgess family who had provided several Members for Bridgnorth in the previous century. Re-elected unopposed in 1715 and 1722 he gave all his recorded votes for the Government. In 1717 he presented the borough with a water-engine to replace the water supply installed by his great-grandfather, Sir William Whitmore, 1st. Bt.1J. F. A. Mason, ‘Borough of Bridgnorth 1157-1957’, Salop Arch. Soc. Trans. liv. 196-7.

He died 24 May 1725.