Christopher Jakeman ‘Jake’ Whitehouse was born in 1926 in Bloxwich, Walsall, the son of Frank and Mary Whitehouse (nee Everton).

His father, Frank Whitehouse was born in 1892 at Bentley Farm, Walsall. Bentley Farm has long been demolished and stood under Junction 10, of the M6 motorway. Frank was a currier, a skilled leather worker and in 1915, at Walsall, he enlisted and served throughout the Great War as a Guardsman in the Grenadier Guards. During the war he had been gassed and injured in shell explosions a number of times.

Jake’s paternal grandfather was Joseph Henry Whitehouse, born in 1856 and baptised at Cannock Parish Church. When Joseph was sixteen, he joined the 2nd King’s Own Staffordshire Militia, giving the false age of eighteen. This was for a period of five years, and an annual payment of one guinea, plus a free uniform. His initial training would be at the Militia Barracks in Stafford.