Thomas Barnby Whitson
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Sir Thomas Barnby Whitson FRSE DL EZS LLD (10 March 1869 – 1 October 1948) was a Scottish chartered accountant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1929 to 1932.{{cite web|url=http://thepeerage.com/p43703.htm#i437023 |title=Sir Thomas Barnby Whitson1 |publisher=Thepeerage.com |date= |accessdate=2020-03-18}}
Life
File:Eglinton Crescent, Edinburgh.jpg
File:The grave of Sir Thomas Barnby Whitson, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh.jpg
He was born on 10 March 1869 to Isobel Lowe and Thomas Whitson (b. 1834) in Blairgowrie), an Edinburgh chartered accountant. The family lived at 30a Minto Street in the Newington area of Edinburgh. He was educated at George Watsons College and Loretto College and then studied accountancy at the University of Edinburgh. He practiced as a chartered accountant continually from 1893. He was interested in Antarctic exploration, and although not undertaking the journey himself he underwrote part of the costs of William Spiers Bruce's explorations in the early 20th century. He also co-founded the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate.Frozen Assets by Frigga Kruse
He was knighted by King George V in 1931 during his period as Lord Provost. He received an honorary doctorate (LLD) from the University of Edinburgh in the same year. He was also in that year elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were James Watt, Ralph Allan Sampson, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer and James Hartley Ashworth.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf}}
He was succeeded as Lord Provost in 1932 by the automobile engineer William Johnston Thomson.
He retired in 1943 and died on 1 October 1948 at his home at 27 Eglinton Crescent in Edinburgh's West End.{{cite web|url=http://www.bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9174&tree=ID1 |title=Sir Thomas Barnby WHITSON b. 10 Mar 1869 Edinburgh, MLN, SCT d. 1 Oct 1948 27 Eglinton Crescent, Edinburgh, MLN, SCT: Shetland Family History |publisher=Bayanne.info |date= |accessdate=2020-03-18}} He is buried with his first wife in the 20th century extension to Dean Cemetery in west Edinburgh. The hard to read granite monument stands beside a mature silver birch.
Recognition
The Whitson estate in the Saughtonhall area of south-west Edinburgh is named after him, as is Cape Whitson in the South Orkneys and Whitson Bay in Spitzbergen.
Family
He married twice: firstly in 1902 to Wilhelmina (“Winnie”) Jamieson Adie (1872-1921) of Delting in Shetland; secondly in 1922, following the death of Winnie, to Mabel Christian Forbes (d.1971), daughter of George Edward Forbes.{{cite web|url=http://thepeerage.com/p43703.htm |title=Mabel Christian Forbes |publisher=Thepeerage.com |date= |accessdate=2020-03-18}} He had three children by his first marriage.
References
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Category:People from Blairgowrie and Rattray
Category:Lord provosts of Edinburgh
Category:Businesspeople from Edinburgh
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Burials at the Dean Cemetery
Category:People educated at George Watson's College
Category:People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Edinburgh
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