Benjamin Whitney (1744–11 December 1821) served as a Clerk of the peace and acted as a Regency-era steward for several members of the British nobility, notably for Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, from around 1813 to 1821.
[2] Whitney received legal training, and his early career begins with him becoming a Clerk of the peace for Suffolk[2] and steward for Sir John Blois of Cockfield Hall, Yoxford,[3] around 1772.
[4] Later, Whitney assumed the role of steward for Robert Sparrow of Worlingham Hall, a prominent landowner and politician who represented Bedford in the House of Commons in 1775, and subsequently served as the High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1777-78.
Once the evaluation of General Sparrow's estates was finished, shortly thereafter, Lord Wodehouse, elected to the House of Commons for Great Bedwyn in 1796, a seat he held until 1802,[10] reached out to Whitney.
[11] After dedicating a number of weeks to this task and subsequently leasing the farms, Whitney and Read returned briefly to Sir John Blois' estate at Yoxford, albeit only for a few days.