Life

He was third son of Sir George Wheler

Sir George Wheler

-Life:The son of Charles Wheler of Charing, Kent, colonel in the Life Guards, by his wife Anne, daughter of John Hutchin of Egerton, Kent, he was born at Breda in Holland, where his parents, who were Royalists, were in exile. He was educated at a school in Wye, Kent and Lincoln College, Oxford,...

, born in August 1701, and was educated in Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

. He was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

 in 1717, graduating B.A. in 1721. He was Fellow of Christ's 1722–4, and graduated M.A. in 1724. He became rector of Leake

Leake

-Places:* Leake, Lincolnshire* West Leake and East Leake, Nottinghamshire* Leake, North Yorkshire* Leake County, Mississippi-People:*Bernard Elgey Leake , British geologist*George Leake , Australian politician...

 and prebendary of Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728, and at his house, Otterden near Charing

Charing

Charing is a small village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. The parish population is 2,750 ; it includes the settlement of Charing Heath.It is situated at the foot of the North Downs...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, carried on experiments in electricity with Stephen Gray

Stephen Gray (scientist)

Stephen Gray was an English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was the first to systematically experiment with electrical conduction, rather than simple generation of static charges and investigations of the static phenomena....

. After Gray's death in 1736, he published his own observations in electrostatics

Electrostatics

Electrostatics is the branch of physics that deals with the phenomena and properties of stationary or slow-moving electric charges....

.

He died in May 1770, and was buried in Otterden church. He married, first, Lady Catherine Maria, daughter of Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon

Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon

Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon PC was an English politician. He was the son of Ferdinando Hastings, 6th Earl of Huntingdon, born in the 27th year of his parents' marriage, and became Earl of Huntingdon on 13 February 1656 on his father's death...

, and had by her seven children; secondly, Mary, daughter of John Dove of London. His library was sold in 1771.