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 Dalrymple on the progress of affairs. This special duty was approved from home on 2 July 1808, and on the 18th of the same month Whittingham was appointed a deputy-assistant quartermaster-general to the force under Sir Arthur Wellesley, but was ordered to remain with Castaños. He took part under La Peña on 18 July 1808 in the victorious battle of Baylen, and for his services was made a colonel of cavalry in the Spanish army on 20 July.

On his recovery from a severe attack of rheumatic fever, Whittingham was sent to Seville on a mission from the Duke of Infantado, and in February 1809 joined the army corps of the Duke of Albuquerque in La Mancha, where he took part in several cavalry affairs with such distinction that he was promoted to be brigadier-general in the Spanish army, to date from 2 March 1809. He was present at the battle of Medellin on 28 March, when the Spanish general Cuesta was defeated by the French general Victor. On this occasion Whittingham re-formed the routed cavalry and led them against the enemy. He reported constantly throughout these campaigns to the British minister in Spain, John Hookham Frere [q. v.], as to the state and operations of the Spanish army.

A short time previous to Wellesley's advance into Spain Whittingham joined the British headquarters on the frontier of Portugal, and became the medium of communication with the Spanish general Cuesta. On 28 July at Talavera he was severely wounded when gallantly bringing up two Spanish battalions to the attack, and was mentioned in Sir Arthur Wellesley's despatch of 29 July 1809. He went to Seville to recover, and lived with the British minister, Lord Wellesley; employing himself during his convalescence in translating Dundas's ‘Cavalry Movements’ into Spanish. He was promoted to be major-general in the Spanish army on 12 Aug.

On the appointment of Castaños to be captain-general of Andalusia, Whittingham became one of his generals of division. At Isla-de-Leon, whither he went by Sir Arthur Wellesley's direction to see General Venegas about the defence of Cadiz, he was given the command of the Spanish cavalry, which he remodelled upon British lines.

Whittingham served in command of a force of Spanish cavalry and infantry under La Peña at the battle of Barrosa, on 5 March 1811, and kept in check a French corps of cavalry and infantry which attempted to turn the Barossa heights by the seaward side. In June he went to Palma, Majorca, with the title of inspector-general of division, and, in spite of the opposition and intrigues of Don Gregorio Cuesta, captain-general of the Balearic Islands, raised a cavalry corps two thousand strong, and established in February 1812 a college in Palma for the training of officers and cadets of his division.

On 24 July 1812 the Majorca division embarked for the eastern coast of Spain to co-operate with the troops under Lord William Bentinck from Sicily. In October Whittingham's corps (increased to seven thousand) was employed on outpost duty with its headquarters at Muchamiel, three miles from Alicante. In March 1813 Whittingham was appointed inspector-general of both the cavalry and infantry troops of his division. He was engaged on the 7th of the month in the affair of Xegona, and on the 15th in the affair of Concentayña was wounded by a musket-ball in the right cheek, and was on both occasions most favourably mentioned by Sir John Murray in despatches. On 13 April he took part in the victorious battle of Castalla, and was again mentioned in despatches. When Murray invested Tarragona on 3 June Whittingham's division occupied the left. On Suchet's advance to relieve the place Whittingham vainly suggested to Murray that a corps of observation should be left before Tarragona, and that Murray should move to meet Suchet with all his force. The siege was raised [see, 1768?–1827]. Murray was relieved in command of the army by Lord William Bentinck, and Whittingham covered the retreat, checking and repulsing the French column in pursuit, and joining the main army again at Cambrils. In July he was given the command of the cavalry of the second and third army corps in addition to his own division.

In March 1814 Whittingham escorted King Ferdinand VII in his progress to Madrid, and was presented with a mosaic snuffbox by the king, who on 16 June 1814 promoted him to be lieutenant-general in the Spanish army. On 4 June Wellington wrote from Madrid to the Duke of York, in anticipation of Whittingham's return home: ‘He has served most zealously and gallantly from the commencement of the war in the peninsula, and I have had every reason to be satisfied with his conduct in every situation in which he has been placed.’ Whittingham was promoted to be colonel in the British army and appointed aide-de-camp to the prince regent from the date of Wellington's letter.

In January and February 1815 Whittingham gave evidence in London before the general court-martial for the trial of Sir John