Jeremy Whitaker

Jeremy Ingham Whitaker (10 November 1934 – September 2019) was a soldier turned professional photographer.

Jeremy Whitaker
Born(1934-11-10)10 November 1934
DiedSeptember 2019 (aged 84)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Commands heldColdstream Guards
Alma materEton College
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Early life and education

Whitaker's parents were Army Officer Major Leith Ingham Tomkins Whitaker and Myrtle Clare Van de Weyer. Whitaker was born near Grayshott, and was given an insight into army life from a young age.[1]

Whitaker attended Eton from 1948 and then went on to join Royal Military Academy Sandhurst when he left in 1953.[2]

Army career

While at Sandhurst, Whitaker applied to join the Rifle Brigade in Winchester, but his "lighthearted personality wasn’t seen as a fit".[1] Following Sandhurst he joined the Coldstream Guards as an officer in 1953. Over 15 years of service, he was stationed in many countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Germany and Yemen.[1]

Whitaker began to hone his photography skills in Aden, Yemen, which led him to pursue a career as a photographer.[1] His obituary in The Guardsman Magazine notes that at the end of his deployment in Yemen he "persuaded the Commanding Officer to allow him to take four Land Rovers and drive with three other officers and 20 guardsmen back to England. It was an epic journey of nearly 6000 miles ... Jeremy did decide to pass by Petra where typically, he gave an expert lecture on archaeology".[2]

Following his retirement, he maintained links with the army, becoming President of the Aldershot branch of the Coldstream Guards Association.[2]

Photography career

Whitaker was commissioned to take a Christmas portrait of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother as well as interior studies of the Bank of England, Liverpool Cathedral and Buckingham Palace in 2012.[1]

Prints of his architectural photographs are held in the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute of Art.[3]

Whitaker's photography assistant Douglas Menzies had their work displayed in the National Portrait Gallery's 2009 exhibition 'Portraits of Astronomers'.[4]

Personal life and death

Whitaker had three children - Alexandra, Benjamin and Camilla - with his wife Philippa van Straubenzee.[5]

Lady Diana Spencer spent time working as a nanny at the Whitaker family home, called The Land of Nod,[6] prior to her marriage to Prince Charles.[7][8]

Whitaker died in September 2019 at the age of 84.[1]

References
  1. Obituaries, Telegraph (5 December 2019). "Major Jeremy Whitaker, eccentric soldier who served as ADC in Nigeria and Malaysia before establishing himself as an in-demand photographer – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  2. "The Guards Magazine". guardsmagazine.com. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  3. "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. "Portraits of Astronomers - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  6. "Land of Nod". Farmers Weekly. 1 September 2000. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. "Diana, Princess of Wales". The British Monarchists Society. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  8. Morton, Andrew (1 December 2009). Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-8788-3.
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