The son of George Hammond Whalley, Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough, he was born at the family estate of Plas Madoc in 1851.
Educated at Brighton College and on the training ship Britannia, he afterwards entered the Royal Navy.
[1] Whalley received a lieutenant's commission in the 6th Royal Lancaster Regiment of Militia on 9 March 1871.
[5] In 1879, Whalley commanded C Troop of Lonsdale's Horse, a local colonial unit, in the Anglo-Zulu War.
[6] Whalley was elected Liberal MP for Peterborough in 1880, like his father (who had occupied the seat until his death in 1878).