Born in Swan Village in Staffordshire, Whitehouse began working underground at a coal mine when he was eight years old.
Out of work for some months, he spent the time learning to read and was soon back at a different mine, where he was elected checkweighman.
Almost immediately after starting, he was taken to court by a local mine owner; he lost the case, but refused to pay the fine, and bailiffs took many of his possessions.
[1] Whitehouse was Somerset's delegate to the founding conference of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and served on its executive on several occasions.
He retired from his union post in 1917 due to poor health, and died two years later aged 70.