Researching Peter White

White was born into a family that had established its homestead at the junction of the Muskrat and Ottawa Rivers where the town of Pembroke, Ontario was soon established. His family established several businesses including a lumberyard, general store and blacksmith's shop.

As a young man, White and his brother took over the family business and became wealthy as they supplied the steam engine industries. He also became a major shareholder and president of the Pembroke Company.

White entered politics and became reeve of Pembroke Township in 1870. He first ran for the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative candidate in the 1872 federal election in the riding of Renfrew North but was defeated. He won election in the 1874 election, but his victory was overturned by the courts, and he lost the subsequent by-election that was held later that year. He was elected in a subsequent 1876 by-election, again won election in the 1878 election, and sat in the House of Commons of Canada for the next twenty years. A supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald, White was a believer in the National Policy.

Following the 1891 election, Macdonald nominated White to be Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada. Macdonald died soon after, and White presided over a tumultuous period in the House of Commons as a succession of Conservative Prime Ministers attempted to hold the party and government together in the absence of the party's long time leader. Debates over the Manitoba Schools Question were particularly divisive, and brought down the government of Sir Mackenzie Bowell. White opposed the government's policy that favoured Catholic education rights as he believed that it interfered with the provincial government's right to set education policy, but, as Speaker, remained silent on the issue until the 1896 election campaign. Despite his independence on the issue, White lost his seat in the election and failed in several attempts to return to the House until the 1904 election when he finally regained a seat. By this time, he was in declining health, and was unable to regularly attend House sittings. He died in office in 1906.

White then entered federal politics, winning the by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of McPherson caused by the death of Liberal minister Eric Robinson. Although challenged by former senator Glen Sheil of the National Country Party, he won the seat safely. He held the seat until his retirement in 1990. White died in 2005.

White was born in New York City, New York and studied acting at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. In 1968, White received critical acclaim for his role as Alan McCarthy in off-Broadway's The Boys in the Band. White, and the rest of the original cast, appeared in the 1970 film version, directed by William Friedkin. He played Director of Central Intelligence John A. McCone in the film Thirteen Days.

Among White's many television credits are appearances on The Feather and Father Gang, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Dallas, The Colbys, a recurring co-starring role as Dr. Thomas Reed on the television series Sisters and playing the role of Lincoln 'Linc' Tyler off and on for over thirty years on the soap opera All My Children.

In 2010, White appeared in filmmaker Crayton Robey's making-of The Boys in the Band documentary Making the Boys.

White came from a sporting family, with his brother Dean a reserves player at Carlton and father Cliff a former Heathcote District Football League player, coach and administrator. White was just 16 when he won Mt Pleasant Football Club's senior "Best and Fairest" in 1986. Two years later he was playing under-19s football for Carlton and after winning their club champion award was promoted to their VFL list in 1989. He made his league debut at Waverley Park against Collingwood and had 12 disposals. The following week White had five touches and kicked his only goal, in a win over Fitzroy at Princes Park. He didn't play a senior game in 1990 and made just one appearance for Carlton in 1991, against Adelaide.

After leaving Carlton, White returned to the Heathcote District Football League and was playing coach in Mt Pleasant's 1993 and 1994 premiership teams.

White was a member of another premiership team in 1996, this time with Goulburn Valley Football League (GVFL) club Kyabram. Later in the year, White would go on a fishing trip from which he would never return, along with his father and a childhood friend, off the coast of Port Campbell. Although their bodies were never found, rescuers later recovered two life jackets, footwear, a fuel tank and a key ring belonging to Peter White.

Every year since the accident, HDFL clubs Mount Pleasant and Heathcote have played each other for the Cliff and Peter White Memorial Shield.