Joseph Isaac Spandafora WHITAKER [33590]

  General Notes:

Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker (19 March 1850 in Palermo \endash 3 November 1936 in Rome) was a Sicilian-English ornithologist, archaeologist and sportsman. He is mainly known for his work on the birds of Tunisia, and for being involved in the foundation of the Sicilian football club US Città di Palermo.

Whitaker's family came from Huddersfield in west Yorkshire.[1] His forebears[2] were wealthy 19th-century business tycoons who had developed the fortified wine industry in Marsala, Sicily. During 1806, members of the Whitaker family had moved to Sicily permanently.

Inheritance of the Vineyard Empire
He inherited vast vineyards and his great grandfather Ingham's banking empire. Choosing Palermo over the more provincial Marsala, he built the Villa Malfitano, an Italian Art Nouveau mansion near Zisa Castle on the Via Dante after his marriage to Tina Scalia. Tina was the daughter of General Alfonso Scalia who landed in Sicily with Giuseppe Garibaldi during the years leading up to the Risorgimento. They had two daughters; the elder of which married General Antonio Di Giorgio an Italian Minister of War. Thus the family was firmly established in the upper echelons of Italian Society.

In these years, the Belle Époque age, the house was the venue for lavish parties attended by British and Italian royalty and celebrated European society. Tina Whitaker knew Richard Wagner, Benito Mussolini, the Kaiser and Edward VII, Empress Eugenie and Queen Mary. Attracted by homosexual company, she unwittingly found herself in a circle involved in the Irish Crown Jewels scandal.

Whitaker himself was founder and president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Palermo, and also he was a major figure in the foundation of US Città di Palermo in the later 1880s, becoming the first president of the football club.

Birds
In 1891 already a very keen ornithologist Whitaker joined the British Ornithologists' Union. Collecting expeditions to Tunisia followed. These extended over a period of ten years (1894\endash 1904). Notebooks kept at the time contain information on the natural history of the birds as well as other fauna and also the flora of Tunisia.

The Tunisian bird and bird nest and egg collection was housed in a villa in the grounds of his home "Malfitano" alongside a very complete collection of Sicilian birds and collections made on his behalf by Edward Dobson in Morocco. To these were added specimens of birds from the Mediterranean littoral.

Some of Whitaker's collection of Tunisian birds are in the Natural History Museum, London. The Sicilian birds are divided between the Royal Scottish Museum (bird skins) and the Ulster Museum (bird mounts, eggs and nests).
Wiki

Deaths
Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker
Birth Date: 19 Mar 1850
Birth Place: Palermo, Città Metropolitana di Palermo, Sicilia, Italy
Death Date: 3 Nov 1936
Cemetery: Cimitero di Santa Maria dei Rotoli
Burial or Cremation Place: Palermo, Città Metropolitana di Palermo, Sicilia, Italy
Father: Joseph Whitaker
Spouse: Caterina Paolina Anna Luisa Whitaker
Children: Sophia Juliet Emily Eleonora diGiorgio
Cordelia Stella Georgette Edith Whitaker
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/mem...

Whitaker Joseph Isaac Spadafora of Villa Malfitano Palermo Sicily died 3 November 1936 at 32 Via Monti Parioli Rome Italy. Probate London 23 February to Caterina Whitaker widow and Sir Albert Edward Whitaker Bt retired Col HM Army.
Effects £110,338 16s 8d in England.
National Probate Calendar.

  Other Records

1. Joseph's Birth Certificate, 18 Mar 1850, Palermo Sicily.

2. Visit of Vittorio Emanuele III King of Italy to Marsala, 1922.
Plaque in Baglio Oneto Masala Sicily reads:
Marsala June 1922
Tommaso (Thomas) Oneto hosts
the King of Italy Vittorio (Victor) Emanuele III
with Giuseppe (Joseph) Whitaker and his wife Tina.

3. Josephs Grave, Nov 1936, Cimitero di Santa Maria dei Rotoli Palermo.
Sacred to the Memory of
Joseph I. S. Whitaker
b. 19th March 1850 d. 3d November 1936
"And in the Morn Those Angel Faces Smile,
Which I have loved long since - and lost awhile"
J. H. Newman

Joseph married Catherine Pauline Louise SCALIA [33592] [MRIN: 12014], daughter of Alfonso SCALIA [33597] and Unknown. (Catherine Pauline Louise SCALIA [33592] was born on 12 Nov 1858 in London and died on 22 Jul 1957 in Rome Italy.)