Early life

In 1879, he married Helen Constance (1849 – 1918), only daughter of Lowell Price of Farnham Royal

Farnham Royal

Farnham Royal is a village and civil parish within the South Bucks district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the south of the county, around 22 miles west of Charing Cross, Central London....

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

. She predeceased him and they had one son.

Politics

White investigated the East End of London

East End of London

The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...

 and wrote an account in The Problems of a Great City (1886). He stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 for Mile End

Mile End (UK Parliament constituency)

Mile End was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Mile End district of the East End of London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 in 1886

United Kingdom general election, 1886

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

. However White broke away from the Liberals when Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

 refused to condemn the Irish Plan of Campaign and stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal Unionist

Liberal Unionist Party

The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule...

 for Tyneside

Tyneside (UK Parliament constituency)

Tyneside was a parliamentary constituency in the Tyneside area of north-east England, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....

 in 1892

United Kingdom general election, 1892

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...

 and 1895

United Kingdom general election, 1895

The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...

.

White then campaigned against Jewish immigration from Russia, and as an agent of Baron de Hirsch he went to Russia to try and persuade the Tsar's government to found a Jewish colony in Argentina.

He was also on the executive council of the Navy League. In 1900 White visited the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy as the guest of Admiral Charles Beresford and in June 1901 he sent the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

a private letter from Beresford's which complained about naval deficiencies. White was also friends with Admiral Sir John Fisher

John Fisher

Saint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic scholastic, bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Church of England calendar of saints...

, who shared an antagonism towards the new German High Fleet. White wrote an article which favoured a preventative attack on this fleet in its harbours which angered the Kaiser and Arthur Balfour

Arthur Balfour

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...

. When some English journalists visited Germany in a goodwill mission in April 1907 the Kaiser insisted on White's exclusion.

In 1901 appeared Efficiency and Empire, which is White's best-known book.

In 1903 White was sent to Brixton Prison in contempt of court when he wrote in August 1903 an article for The Sun on the fraudster Whitaker Wright

Whitaker Wright

James Whitaker Wright was an exceptionally wealthy English mining company owner. He became infamous when he committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud....

 whilst the case was sub judice.

White stood unsuccessfully as an independent for Londonderry North in the 1906 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1906

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

.

Journalism

In 1907 he began his column in the weekly newspaper The Referee, writing under the name Vanoc. He also sat on the council for the Eugenics Education Society and supported compulsory military service, which led to the Duke of Bedford

Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford

Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford KG KBE DL LLD FRS FSA was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford.-Family:...

 becoming his patron.

During the Great War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he wrote The Hidden Hand (1917), which claimed to have uncovered a plot to Germanize Britain. He died in 1925 and requested in his will that on his grave there would be a plain wooden cross inscribed with his name, date of death and the words ‘for England’.