RAF Pilot to Boxing Promoter: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Planes”

 

From World War I Bombing Runs to NYC Boxing Matches: the Life of Edward Whitwell

Edward Horton Whitwell: 1879-1942 (Husband of Second Cousin 2x Removed)

 

Edward Horton Whitwell landed in my family tree when he married opera star Florence Macbeth, my second-cousin 2x removed. He deserved a post of his own, however brief, due to his amazing career change following his marriage. Captain Whitwell was an RAF pilot in World War I, became a military recruiter of sorts for the British Empire, and then turned to promoting boxing matches at the New York City Coliseum. From wings to welterweights, from flying to fighters: Edward Whitwell led an interesting life.

Edward Horton Whitwell was born May 29, 1879 in Kendal, England. His parents, Isaac Whitwell and Hannah Martindale Whitwell, had eight other children; Edward was the fourth oldest.

Edward appears on the 1881 census as a one-year-old; his father was a bootmaker. By the 1901 census, Edward is living on his own as a boarder while working as a plumber and gasfitter.

As World War I began, Edward apparently joined one of the precursors to the RAF—the RAF didn’t really become a separate service branch until April 1918, and was built from the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. The only record of Edward’s service I have found so far is a card from the “UK WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923” database, which merely confirms his ranks as Flight Lieutenant and then Captain in the Air Force.

He seems to have been older than the average World War I pilot—he was thirty-five when the war began. All I know of his flying career is a paragraph in a 1918 newspaper article in the Brooklyn Eagle describing an event called Allies Day the Brooklyn NY YMCA:

“…Captain Edward Whitwell of the Royal Air Forces of Great Britain, who represented the British Government (at the event). Captain Whitwell, who has seen three years of service, gave thrilling accounts of several battles in which he took part. He told of the tricks used by aviators to get the enemy into a tight corner and for extricating themselves if they are caught in the same positions. He also described bombing raids and dangerous photographic work.”

From this account, it appears that Edward had served as a pilot from 1914-1917, and flew a variety of missions from reconnaissance to attacks and dogfights.

So how did he end up in the United States giving lectures to the public? Edward apparently was sent by the RAF to the New York area to serve a recruiting function as part of a program called the British-Canadian Recruiting Mission (BCRM).

The program targeted British and Canadian citizens living and working in the United States, encouraging them to enlist in British or Canadian units. The Mission handled all the transportation and visa details. The program was apparently surprisingly successful, recruiting 33,000 volunteers, most in 1918 when Edward was part of the effort. One article states that Edward was the aide to Brigadier General Kenyon, the British head of the BCRM.

British Canadian Recruiting Mission poster--1918

Edward’s name appears in various articles in newspapers in the New York City area as the organizer of various military pageants and events. He arranged for opera singer Florence Macbeth to perform at one of these events, and the two fell in love. They married after the war on December 8, 1922. He was forty-three years old, and Florence was thirty-three.

Edward remained in the United States following his marriage. While he occasionally travelled with Florence (see the article below mentioning them attending a dinner in Florence’s honor in California), he spent much of his time in New York City, where he became involved in the professional boxing world.

He became the boxing impresario for the New York City Coliseum, arranging bouts. In the article below, he is referred to as a "matchmaker"-- quite the clever pun to reflect his role in pairing up boxers for a match. 

I have no idea if he had any previous boxing experience or if he was just a fan of the sport and used the organizational skills he developed in the BCRM to begin planning boxing cards and schedules.

In his late fifties, Edward suffered a severe stroke that left his health impaired. He and Florence moved to California. He died there at age sixty-two on April 12, 1942. He was buried in Florence's hometown of Mankato, Minnesota.

Photo from Findagrave, by RB Hall-Gallea and MS Gallea.

 

Sources:

“Allies Day at YMCA.” Brooklyn Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. Aug. 19, 1918. Accessed on Newspapers.com on August 30, 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force

https://www.fold3.com/image/689533587?terms=kingdom,edward,i,war,world,united,whitwell&xid=1945&_gl=1*fu9exw*_gcl_au*NTAxNTc4MDUuMTcyMjgxNjQ1NA..

Richard Holt "British Blood Calls British Blood: The British-Canadian Recruiting Mission of 1917-1918." Canadian Military History 22, 1 (2013) https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1679&context=cmh

Edward Whitwell headstone. Photo provided by: RB Hall-Gallea & MS Gallea on Findagrave.com

Ad for Patriotic Rally. New York Tribune. NY, NY. Aug. 14, 1918. Accessed on Newspapers.com on Aug. 30, 2024.

Society News: Macbeth feted at reception. Oakland Tribune. Oakland, CA. Oct. 3, 1926. Accessed on Newspapers.com on Aug. 30, 2024.

Photo of Edward Whitwell. New York Daily News. NY NY. Jun. 16, 1933.

The Minnesota Nightingale: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Creativity”

 

Florence Macbeth’s Soprano Voice Carried Her from Mankato to the World

Florence Macbeth: 1889-1966 (Maternal Second Cousin 2x Removed)

 

Florence Macbeth’s lovely soprano voice led her from rural Mankato, Minnesota to opera houses around the world. Her musical creativity won her admiration from varied critics and audiences.

Florence was born January 12, 1889 in Mankato, Minnesota to parents Charles James Macbeth and Alice Amanda Monfare Macbeth. Charles Macbeth owned a meat-packing company and traded in livestock, and it appears the family was reasonably well-off. She was their only child.

Her parents noted Flossie’s (Florence’s nickname) exceptional singing voice and hired a local voice instructor named Nettie Snyder when Florence was eleven. In an interview years later, Snyder recalled, “I’ll never forget the first time I saw Flossie. Her father came to me, leading a little girl, and said, ‘Mrs. Snyder, here’s a little girl we think can sing. Won’t you listen to her?’ She had on a little plaid kilted skirt that came to her knees, for she was only 11 years old then. She sang, and she sang high F, I might add, as perfectly then as she sings it now.” (From MankatoLife article cited below).

In 1902, the Macbeths enrolled Florence in a rather exclusive girls’ boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota. St. Mary’s Hall offered a curriculum that qualified graduates for admission into elite colleges such as Wellesley and University of Chicago, and promised “superior advantages in Music and Art,” which must have pleased the Macbeths and twelve-year-old Flossie.

Florence graduated from St. Mary’s Hall in 1907. She was accepted at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and in 1909 her parents drove east to drop her off for her freshman year. En route, the family stopped at a friend’s home for dinner. Florence was asked to perform for the dinner guests, one of whom was a professional voice teacher, Yeatman Griffith. He was impressed with Florence’s voice, and persuaded her parents to defer college and have Florence train with him instead.  

The gamble paid off. As Mnopedia reported, Florence “made her concert debut in July 1912 in Scheveningen, the Netherlands, and her European operatic debut in 1913 in Darmstadt, Germany.” Her proud parents were there to see her debut. She sang in several countries, including a performance with the London Symphony at Queen’s Hall.

Florence returned to the United States and was signed by the Chicago Grand Opera Company. She made her American debut singing the part of Rosina in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”. She performed with the Chicago Grand Opera for fourteen years while also traveling for additional engagements across the United States and Canada. Her fame as a coloratura soprano spread, and she became known as the Minnesota Nightingale. She made several recordings with the Columbia Grafonola Company in 1916—a precursor to the Columbia Record Company. Recordings of some of her performances can be found on YouTube today. I have cited two such recordings below.

World War I impacted Florence’s life in a unique way: she met her first husband during the war. Years later in an interview with the British press, Florence recalled learning that a British officer, Captain Edward Whitwell, part of the British War Mission, was looking for a lady to sing at a recruiting event in New Jersey in 1918.

“’There’s only one I can recommend,’ said Mr. David Bispham, of Covent Garden Opera, who was assisting him, ‘and that is Miss Macbeth. I think she would be very pleased to do it.’”

Florence agreed to sing, and she hit it off with the former RAF pilot. She married Edward Whitwell in La Porte, Indiana on December 8, 1922. The couple never had children, and Florence continued to travel and perform while Edward built a career as a boxing promoter in New York City. Sadly, he had a stroke in the late 1930s, causing them to move to Los Angeles for Edward’s health. Following another stroke, Edward died on April 12, 1942.

Florence had retired from performing by the late 1930s. She continued to live in Los Angeles following her husband’s death, working as a singing teacher. According to the Schrader article cited below, Florence met a rather famous fan of hers at an L.A. tea party: novelist James M. Cain. Cain was the author of renowned novels including Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce, all of which were made into very successful movies. Cain married Florence September 22, 1947.

The couple moved to University Park, Maryland. Florence’s health began to suffer, and for over a decade she rarely left home. She died on May 5, 1966 at the age of seventy-seven.

While Florence Macbeth’s talent and creativity took her around the world and while she socialized with the wealthy and famous, she continued to love her hometown of Mankato, Minnesota. She asked that her body be returned there, and she was buried next to her first husband in Mankato’s Glenwood Cemetery. An article quoted Florence as writing in 1952, “It is all home, the place where I was born, where I dreamed dreams that came true, and where, when my time comes to pass, I shall come to sleep near dear ones and dear friends, and that is a serene comfort.”

 

Photo by Alan Brownsten on Findagrave

 

Sources:

Gardner, Leroy. "Macbeth, Florence Mary (1889–1966)." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. http://www.mnopedia.org/person/macbeth-florence-mary-1889-1966 (accessed June 10, 2024).

Photo of  Florence Macbeth at piano, taken c. 1915-1920. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2006006178/

Publicity photograph of Florence Macbeth taken on June 24, 1913. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014693507/

Publicity photograph of Florence Macbeth taken on June 24, 1913.Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2005013535/

78 rpm recording of Florence Macbeth singing When I Was Seventeen. Columbia Exclusive Artist. Aug 1922.(Accessed June 10, 2024.  https://archive.org/details/78_when-i-was-seventeen_florence-macbeth_gbia0413959a

78 rpm recording of Tarantella Napoletana (Rossini) by Florence Macbeth. Columbia. 1923. (accessed June 10, 2024).  https://archive.org/details/78_tarantella-napoletana_florence-macbeth-rossini_gbia0210416b

“Florence Macbeth, the Minnesota Nightingale” by Julie Schrader. Mankato LIFE. Feb. 11, 2019. https://www.mankatolife.com/february8-schrader/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7767629/florence-mary-macbeth?