Background
He was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1599.
He was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1599.
In 1619 he graduated in arts, and for a time was a schoolmaster at Oakham, Rutland.
After being educated at the grammar school there under the Review Philip Jack, he entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, as a sizar in 1615, two years before Oliver Cromwell. In 1630 he was made rector of Stretton, Rutland.
And on the ejection of Thomas Paske from the rectory of Street Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, in 1644, Whitaker was chosen in his stead.
He was an oriental scholar, and preached, when in London, four times a week. When the Westminster Assembly was convened in June 1643, he was one of the first members elected, and in 1647 was appointed its moderator.
In the same year he was chosen by the House of Lords, along with Thomas Goodwin, to examine and superintend the assembly"s publications. Whitaker died on 1 June 1654, and was buried in the chancel of Street Mary Magdalen.