Paul Whiteley (Deceased) first started his research in February 1999 by requesting and subsequently delving into Arthur Whiteley's First World War record as a member of the Machine Gun Corps.
However, that information would not be available for at least 18 months.
Paul subsequently found out that Arthur Whiteley's First World War records were destroyed during an air raid on London in 1941. Paul then decided to research the Whiteley family tree and as he spoke to various cousins he soon realised that all the snippets of information must have had to be recorded elsewhere; they may not all turn out to be true but the person(s) giving him the information would have believed them to be so. Hence began the search for the Whiteley family history.
Paul dedicated this work to his Grandfather, Arthur Whiteley, a man with whom he spent a lot of time, listening to his stories, anecdotes and adventures.
Initially;
Although the Whiteley family lived in the Hull area for over 150 years the Whiteley name is not an East Riding name but actually seems to have originated in the West Riding area of Yorkshire sometime before 1550.
The original name was Whitley, though when John Whitley had his son Israel christened in 1748 it was erroneously recorded as Whiteley and the rest, as they say, is history.
In the 1881 census of Great Britain there were 11,218 Whiteley families listed, of these only about 40 were ours.
The Books;
By July 29, 2003 the family history book had become too big, cumbersome and disjointed as Paul tried to keep everything in chronological order.
He therefore decided to split it into 3 parts or books:
The First book is the original family from 1550 until present day.
The Second book records the descendants of Israel Whitley born 1791 and:
The Third book records the descendants of John Whiteley, who was to become the great, great, grandfather of William Whiteley of the Bayswater store and Whiteley Village fame.
Paul had a wish to start book 4 as he had recently discovered that part of the family emigrated to America in 1842.
Unfortunately, this book was never completed.
Paul Whiteley passed away on the 2nd of December, 2009.
May he rest in Peace.
His work here remains as a tribute to a good man, a good friend.
PESK
