Henry Whitehouse

Henry John Whitehouse was the oldest son of lawyer William Fitzhugh Whitehouse, and grandson of the former Bishop of Illinois, also known as Henry John. Ironically, H. J. Junior was born just four days after his grandfather died in 1874.

Whitehouse shared his time between New York, the family home at Stony Stratford (England), Paris, and Compiègne (France). He played polo for Compiègne at the turn of the 20th century and competed in two events at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Whitehouse married Ethel Duntze, daughter of the 4th Baronet Duntze of Tiverton in 1897, and in the 1920s was a New York farmer and businessman.

Whitehouse’s sister-in-law Mary Sheldon Whitehouse was, in 1957, the first person to wear the famous Tiffany Diamond in public when she attended the Tiffany Ball at Newport, Rhode Island. Also at the function was the future US President John F. Kennedy.