Francis McNeece Whittle
| Right Rev. Francis M. Whittle, D.D., LL.D. | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Virginia | |
 |
|
| Church | Episcopal Church |
| See | Virginia |
| In office | 1876-1902 |
| Predecessor | John Johns |
| Successor | Robert Atkinson Gibson |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1847 by Bishop William Meade |
| Consecration | 1867 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 7, 1823 Mecklenburg County, Virginia |
| Died |
June 20, 1902 (aged 78) Richmond, Virginia |
| Previous post | Assistant Bishop of Virginia (1867-1876) |
Francis McNeece Whittle (July 7, 1823 – June 20, 1902) was the fifth Episcopal bishop of Virginia.
Born at Millbank plantation on the Meherrin River in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, Francis was the next-to-youngest of the nine sons of Irish immigrant Fortescue Whittle (1778-1858) and Mary Ann Davies (1788-1869) of Norfolk, Virginia, Francis Whittle attended the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and after teaching for a while, entered and then graduated from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1847.
The following year, on May 15, 1848, he married Emily Cary Fairfax, daughter of Wilson Cary Fairfax and Lucy A. Griffith. They had eight children, including three daughters and one son who predecesed their parents: Mary Anne at Petersburg, Virginia in 1862, Julia at her uncle's historic house Eldon in Pittsylvania County, Virginia (later known as the estate of Claude A. Swanton), Jane Eliza at Hopkinsville, Kentucky circa 1872 and Llewellyn Fairfax Whittle circa 1880. Surviving children included Lucy Tucker Whittle (b. 6 June 1849 in Charleston and who married John Nottingham Upshure of Norfolk, whose sold child Francis Whittle Upshure became a professor of medicine and pharmacology at the Medical College of Virginia), Francis McNeece Whittle, Jr. (1856- ?), Emily Clary Whittle and Fortescue Whittle, II (1852-1918).
Bishop William Meade ordained Whittle as a deacon in St. Paul's Church in Alexandria, Virginia not long after his graduation from the seminary, and on October 8, 1848 ordained him as a Priest in St. John's Episcopal Church, Charleston, West Virginia. Rev. Whittle served in that parish another year, before being called to St. James Church, Wortham Parish in Goochland County, Virginia where he served from 1849-52. Rev. Whittle then served in the Shenandoah Valley at Grace Church in Berryville, Virginia from 1857 to 1858. He then moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he served at St. Paul's Church through the American Civil War, although his family returned to Virginia.
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