Henry Melville Whitney

Henry Melville Whitney
Whitney around 1900
Born	(1839-10-22)October 22, 1839 Conway, Massachusetts
Died	January 25, 1923(1923-01-25) (aged 83) Brookline, Massachusetts
Education	Williston Seminary
Organization	Metropolitan Steamship Company
Known for	Founder of the West End Street Railway Company and Dominion Iron and Steel Company
Spouse(s)	Margaret F. Green
Parent(s)	James Scollay Whitney Laurinda Collins
Relatives	William Collins Whitney (brother) Charles T. Barney (brother-in-law) Henry F. Dimock (brother-in-law)

Henry Melville Whitney (October 22, 1839 – January 25, 1923) was an American industrialist, the founder of the West End Street Railway Company of Boston, Massachusetts, and later the Dominion Coal Company Ltd. and the Dominion Iron and Steel Company Ltd. of Sydney, Nova Scotia. He was also president of the Metropolitan Steamship Company, long an important transportation link between Boston and New York City.

Henry Whitney was born on October 22, 1839 in Conway, Massachusetts to Brigadier General James Scollay Whitney (1811–1878) and Laurinda Collins. Henry's well known younger brother was the financier William Collins Whitney (1841–1904), who served as Secretary of the Navy in the first administration (1885–89) of President Grover Cleveland. His sister Lucy Collins "Lily" Whitney married Charles T. Barney, who became the president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company. Another sister, Susan Collins Whitney, married Henry F. Dimock.

Whitney was educated at Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts. Whitney was said to have been a personally pleasant and genial man who had hearing difficulties from childhood.

His family was descended from Puritans including John Whitney of London, who settled in 1635 at Watertown, Massachusetts. Through his mother, he was a descendant of William Bradford (c.1590–1657), the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th & 12th Governor of Plymouth Colony and signer of the Mayflower Compact.