Charles Whittingham (1795–1876)

Charles Whittingham (1795–1876) was an English printer, a nephew of Charles Whittingham (1767–1840) who took over the Chiswick Press from his uncle.

Whittingham was born at Mitcham, Surrey, on 30 October 1795; his father Samuel Whittingham', brother of the elder Charles, was a nurseryman. Known as "the nephew", he was apprenticed at the age of fifteen to his uncle, who had paid for his education under the Rev. John Evans of Islington. He was made a freeman of the Company of Stationers in 1817, and the following year his uncle sent him to Paris with letters of introduction to the Didots. One result of the visit was the production on his return of Whittingham's French Classics by the Chiswick Press; a series of Pocket Novels was also issued under his supervision. In 1824 his uncle took him into partnership, then dissolved in 1828, and the younger Whittingham started a printing office at 21 Took's Court, Chancery Lane. Through Basil Montagu he came to know William Pickering, the bookseller, who was to be a lifelong friend and associate.

On the death of his uncle in 1840 the Chiswick Press business passed into the hands of the younger Whittingham. He carried on the works at Chiswick as well as at Took's Court until 1848, and the books printed at both places bore the imprint of Chiswick Press. In 1848 he became a liveryman of the Company of Stationers. The lease at Took's Court expired in 1849, and for three years all his printing was carried on at Chiswick. In 1852 he returned to the premises at Took's Court.

In 1854 Whittingham lost his wife and his friend Pickering, and in 1860 took his manager John Wilkins (died 1869), into partnership, and retired from active work. The business later passed to the publisher George Bell.

Whittingham died on 21 April 1876. He was buried in Kensal Green cemetery next to William Pickering.

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