Born in England, he came to New Zealand with his wife and initially settled in the Hokianga where there was an existing WMS mission station.

The tensions in the area meant Whiteley, sympathetic to the settlers' cause, found it difficult to carry out his missionary work.

Christianity had already reached Kawhia through the activities of Māori, formerly slaves of the Northland iwi (tribes), who had been freed due to the influence of missionaries.

[1] Among them was Te Ua Haumēne, who later became a supporter of the Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement) and founded the Pai Mārire cult.

[10] By 1840, he had 300 members for his Church and was working towards eliminating slavery, encouraging the release of slaves captured by the local Māori on raids into the Taranaki region.

He sought to improve literacy, setting up a boarding school for local Māori children, but found that many students were removed when their families, being of an itinerant nature, moved to another village.

He pointed out that Māori had customary rights to unoccupied land and the Crown's actions were contrary to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

[1] He considered it an affront to the missionaries, like himself, who in 1840 had encouraged rangatira to sign the Treaty, in the belief that Māori rights to land would be honoured.

[16] In contrast to Kawhia, the area had a high population of settlers who had moved there in the belief that land would be easily purchased.

Additionally, inter-tribal disputes regarding land ownership were also problematic; soon after Whiteley's arrival in Taranaki, two rival rangatira died, leaving their respective iwi at odds and seeking arms and ammunition to potentially resolve the conflict.

[19] He became principal of the Grey Institute, a Wesleyan boarding school for the education of Māori youth, but soon found his missionary work was compromised because of the tense state of affairs.

[19] His fluency in the Māori language meant that he was called upon by Government officials as a translator and adviser, despite concerns regarding his potential bias.

In 1859, he was involved in discussions regarding the sale by the rangatira Te Teira, of the Ati Awa iwi of an area of land known as the Waitara Block.

However, Kingi Te Rangitake, another rangatira of Ati Awa but of greater seniority, believed he had ownership of the land and disputed the sale.

[1] At that time, he had argued that it was inappropriate for Māori land to be registered since some was disputed between rival iwi and furthermore not all rangatira had signed the Waitangi Treaty.

[18] He felt that the unoccupied land being denied to the settlers was wasted and that the Māori were acting contrary to God's command to "replenish the earth".

[24] His pro-settler stance saw him move his family from the mission station into the town itself, reflecting his greater allegiance to the settlers.

The WMS and his fellow missionaries felt that Whiteley should be more circumspect in advancing his views, with some expressing concern for his safety.

[28] On 13 February 1869, a war party of the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi, under the command of Wetere Te Rerenga, attacked Pukearuhe, a redoubt located on confiscated land known as White Cliffs, to the north of New Plymouth.

The redoubt had been manned by soldiers up until their withdrawal the previous year and served as a blockhouse for the settlers in the area to retreat to in the event of hostilities.

[31] A punitive expedition to nearby Mokau, a Ngāti Maniapoto village, was mounted by the Armed Constabulary in April but it proved to be fruitless for the area was deserted.

[1] Whiteley is listed on the Pukearuhe NZ Wars memorial, in New Plymouth, which commemorates the eight fatalities of the 13 February 1869 attack and was erected in 1871 after a public subscription.