He is widely recognised as a leader in the Arts and Crafts movement and a key figure in the modern history of stained glass.

18 Wharton Street in Clerkenwell and work as an illustrator of newspapers, novels and children's books, as well as assisting other painters and giving drawing lessons.

He carried out designs during this period for several stained glass makers including John Hardman Trading Co. Ltd as well as James Powell and Sons.

Whall was actively involved in these two organizations for thirty years and was an influential spokesman for the medium of stained glass.

[6] The architects with whom he was to work at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street, John Dando Sedding and Henry Wilson[nb 1] were also prominent within the movement.

[3] It was John Dando Sedding who was to give Whall his first independent commission, for the Lady Chapel East window of St Mary's Church in Stamford, Lincolnshire, which he completed in 1891.

[7] Whall's participation in the early activities of the Arts and Crafts movement came soon after a life-changing event that had taken place in 1887.

In that year he had converted the cow-shed at his cottage in Dorking into a workshop, where he set about learning all the processes of the craft: cutting, painting, firing and glazing, so that, in future, no part of the making of his windows would be beyond his control.

This was a direct protest against the division of labour, then almost universally prevalent among commercial manufacturers, which Whall and others saw as incompatible with the production of stained glass as an art rather than simply a trade.

[3][7][8] During his time at Dorking, Whall was assisted by Louis Davis and Reginald Hallward, both of whom were to have distinguished careers as stained glass artists.

[1] For the decade after the Whalls left Dorking in 1896 he had no premises of his own for firing and glazing his stained glass, and during this period he worked closely with the firm of Lowndes and Drury and it was in their workshops that all his windows were fabricated between 1897 and 1906 (either at Park Walk in Chelsea or at Lettice Street).

Students taking Whall's class were a wide assortment of ages, backgrounds and level of experience.

During the first school year, Whall taught his classes alone, but by 1897 he had hired Alfred Drury, an experienced glazer, to teach the crafts of leading and glazing.

[1] Whall resigned from his teaching position in 1905, but continued to work with the stained glass classes in an informal supervisory role.

His successor at the school was Karl Parsons, former student and studio-assistant, and a strong follower of Whall's teachings.

[1] Whall also taught at the Royal College of Art, informally from 1897, with the assistance of Alfred Drury to a formal teaching position at the school in 1901.

A kiln was not available during Whall's time at the school, and the firing of students' glass painting was done at Lowndes and Drury studio.

[3] Although there is no record of Whall having undertaken commissions in Ireland, except for Loughrea Cathedral, it does seem that he can be linked to the early 20th century stained glass revival in that country.

[nb 3][3] In September 1901 Alfred E. Child arrived in Dublin to take up the post of Instructor in Stained Glass at the newly reorganised Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and it seems that Whall was one of those who were behind this appointment along with the painter Sarah Purser, the poet W. B. Yeats and Edward Martyn the art critic.

When windows were completed, Whall would often host fellow artists, clients, friends and family in the studio for a private viewing.