University of Virginia Library

RT. REV. F. M. WHITTLE, D. D. LL. D.

BY RT. REV. R. A. GIBSON.

Francis McNeece Whittle, fifth Bishop of Virginia, was
the son of Mr. Fortescue Whittle, of Mecklenburg county,
Va., and was born in that county July 7, 1823. He was
next to the youngest of nine sons. Only one of his brothers
survives him.

Bishop Whittle was educated at the Episcopal High
School, and taught for a while after leaving school. He
entered the Virginia Seminary and graduated with the class
of 1847. Of that class of fifteen he was the last survivor,
except the Rec. C. Winter Bolton, of Pelhoweville, N. Y.

He was ordained deason in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria,
July 16, 1847, by Bishop Meade, and he was ordained
priest in St. John's Church, Charleston, Va. (now West
Virginia), October 8, 1848, by the same Bishop. As deacon,
he was sent to Kanawha Parish, in what is now West Virginia.
In October, 1849, he accepted a call to St. James's,
Northam Parish, Goochland county, Va., and there fulfilled
his ministry till October, 1852, when he went to Grace
Church, Berryville, Va. In Berryville Bishop Whittle remained,
doing not only his Parish work, but much active
missionary work, until October, 1857, when he accepted the
rectorship of St. Paul's Church, Louisville, Ky. Here he
became a conspicuous leader in Church affairs and represented
the Diocese in the General Convention.

He was in Louisville during the trying times of the war
between the States, and though he was known as an ardent
Southern sympathizer, so high was his character, so splendid
his integrity and so pure his conduct, that he lost no
part of his influence or power for usefulness because of his
views.

On the 17th day of May, 1867, he was elected Assistant

Rt. Rev. F. M. Whittle, D. D., LL. D.,

Fifth Bishop of Virginia.

Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia, and was consecrated
Bishop April 30, 1868, in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria
(where he had been ordained deacon). His consecrators
were Rt. Rev. John Johns, Bishop of Virginia, Rt. Rev.
Alfred Lee, Bishop of Delaware, and Rt. Rev. G. T. Bedell,
Bishop of Ohio. Bishop Bedell preached the sermon.

Upon the death of Bishop Johns, April 5, 1876, Bishop
Whittle became Bishop of Virginia.

There were then twelve thousand communicants in the
Diocese of Virginia, which consisted of the States of Virginia
and West Virginia.

The Diocese covered about sixty-seven thousand square
miles of territory. Much of the travel could be done only
in private conveyance, and private conveyances were scarce
in the country. The ravages of the war had been only partially
repaired and the Church people had suffered worse
proportionately than any other part of the population. Into
this field of work the Bishop threw himself with characteristic
zeal, energy and self-denial, and when West Virginia
had been cut off, in 1877, he held the other 42,000 square
miles alone in spite of every effort on the part of clergy and
laity to divide it until 1883, when Bishop Randolph was consecrated
as his assistant.

In 1892 the Diocese of Southern Virginia was organized
with Bishop Randolph as Diocesan, and now has more communicants
than the entire old Diocese had when Bishop
Whittle succeeded Bishop Johns.

Bishop Whittle married Emily Cary Fairfax, daughter
of Stewellyn Fairfax, of Alexandria, and had five children,
three of whom survived him.

Bishop Whittle was a faithful and godly man, a positive
man, a power and a power-making for uprightness of life in
whatever company he moved. Although apparently strong
beyond the ordinary, he suffered much pain and his sufferings
were borne with great fortitude. In every position
which he held in the Church his service was marked by diligence,
faithfulness, wisdom and courage. He went in and
out among his people, known of all men as a faithful minister
of Jesus Christ.

His character was laid out on large lines, his mind was

vigorous, his memory singularly accurate and retentive, and
his utterances, especially in the pulpit, were strong and emphatic
to a degree which his hearers will never forget.

He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.,
on June 20, 1902, and the epitaph on his gravestone, after
his name and title, is by his own direction simply this:
"Psalm 51."

Rt. Rev. R. A. Gibson, D. D.,

Sixth and Present Bishop of Virginia.