Charles Thomas Whitley (1808-1895) was one of the founder members of staff of the University of Durham. The son of John Whitley of Liverpool, he was educated at Shrewsbury School and St. John's College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. (Senior Wrangler) in 1830, and was elected a fellow of St. John's in 1831. In 1833 he was appointed Reader in Natural Philosophy and Mathematics in the new University of Durham, a post which he retained until 1855. He also filled a number of other university offices for various periods during those years - Librarian, Proctor, Tutor, and later Vice-Master of University College. He was ordained in 1836, and in 1849 became an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral. In 1854 he was appointed Vicar of Bedlington, Northumberland. Whitley's translation of Louis Poinsot's work on rotatory motion was published in Cambridge in 1834, the same year in which the French original first appeared. At Cambridge he had become a close friend of Charles Darwin, and he maintained his scientific interests and correspondence throughout his life. From 1864-1872 he was President of the College of Medicine and Surgery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
From the guide to the Charles Whitley Correspondence, 1832-1850, (Repository Unknown)
