Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/448

Waithman Dr. Michael Jones, one of their leaders, was killed in the assault, the circumstances of whose death furnished Sir Walter Scott with a scene in Woodstock (Lords' Journals, x. 313;, Desiderata Curiosa, p. 378). At the end of August Waite, under the command of Lord Grey, took part in the pursuit and capture of the Duke of Hamilton. He was one of the witnesses at Hamilton's subsequent trial, on the question whether the duke had surrendered to Grey's or Lambert's forces, and Hugh Peters in open court accused him of lying (Commons' Journals, v. 688;, Lives of the Hamiltons, 1852, pp. 491–4). In January 1649 Waite was appointed one of the commissioners for the trial of Charles I; he attended three meetings of the court, and signed the death-warrant (, Trial of Charles I).

Waite's political importance ended with the expulsion of the Long parliament in April 1653. In January 1660 he wrote to Lenthall expressing his joy at the second restoration of that assembly (Portland MSS. i. 692). At the Restoration Waite obeyed the proclamation summoning the regicides to surrender, was tried, pleaded not guilty, and alleged that he had been forced by Cromwell and Ireton to take his place among the king's judges (Trial of the Regicides, pp. 29, 268; Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 156). He was condemned to death, but, as he had surrendered, his name was included in the list of those whose execution was not to take place without a special act of parliament. An act for the purpose passed the commons in January 1662, and Waite was summoned to the bar of the House of Lords on 7 Feb. 1662 to see what he could say for himself. The act was eventually dropped, and his life was consequently spared; but he passed the rest of his days in prison (Commons' Journals, viii. 61, 63, 139; Lords' Journals, xi. 380). An undated petition from his wife, Jane Waite, prays for his release; she states that she has supported him and her five children ever since his imprisonment, but, being sick and feeble, is unable to do so any longer (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1665–6, p. 165). In February 1668 he was still a prisoner in Jersey (ib. 1667–8, p. 229).

[Noble's Lives of the Regicides, 1798, ii. 310; other authorities mentioned in the article.] 

WAITHMAN, ROBERT (1764–1833), political reformer, born at Wrexham in 1764, was the son of John Waithman (d. 1764) of Bersham furnace, near Wrexham, who married at Wrexham church, on 29 Jan. 1761, Mary Roberts. His father died when Robert was an infant, and in September 1776 the widow married Thomas Mires, a furnaceman working under John Wilkinson, the great ironmaster of Bersham.

Robert was placed by an uncle in the school of a Mr. Moore. About 1778 he obtained a situation at Reading. He then went to a linendraper's shop in London until he came of age. About 1786 he opened a shop of his own at the south end of Fleet Market, and on 14 July 1787 married his first cousin, Mary Davis of Red Lion Street, Holborn. After some years he moved into larger premises at Nos. 103 and 104 Fleet Street, at the corner of that thoroughfare and New Bridge Street; the shop was demolished about 1870 to make room for Ludgate Circus. He amassed a considerable fortune, and then retired in favour of his sons.

Under the influence of the French revolution Waithman threw himself into politics, and used to declaim at the meetings of a debating society in Founders' Hall, Lothbury. In 1794 he brought forward resolutions at the Common Hall in favour of reform and against prosecuting a war with France, but his proposals were rejected. He was a member of the company of ‘Framework Knitters,’ and in 1796 was elected on the common council for the ward of Farringdon Without, soon becoming one of its leading orators. His education had been insufficient, but he did not neglect his opportunities for improvement. He was one of the men, prominent in politics and literature, who met at the Chapter coffee-house, near St. Paul's Cathedral. Waithman contested the representation of the city of London in 1812, but was beaten, though he polled 2,622 votes. In 1818 he was elected, displacing Sir William Curtis [q. v.], a tory member; but at the next election in 1820 Curtis, after a severe fight, snatched the seat from him. Waithman was again elected, after a fierce struggle, in 1826, and he retained his seat at the general elections of 1830, 1831, and 1832. He spoke often, and consistently advocated liberal opinions, but was opposed to free trade. A speech by him on Sir Francis Burdett's motion for reform on 1 July 1819 is reported in ‘Hansard,’ xl. 1483–93, and was printed separately in 1823. On 4 Aug. 1818 Waithman was elected as alderman for his ward of Farringdon Without. At the close of the following year the court of aldermen commenced proceedings against him for having obstructed the election of a lord mayor; but the rule against him was on 10 June 1820 discharged by the court of king's bench with costs. Samuel Bamford speaks of him about this time as soured by