Major William Bell Whiteford was born at Simcoe, Canada West in October 1849 and gazetted to the Royal Engineers as a Lieutenant in July 1868. During the Second Afghan War he served in the Indus Reserve in command of two Companies of the Bombay Sappers and Miners and also as Senior Assistant Field Engineer, in which latter position he performed the duties of Commandant, R.E. In the second phase of the War in 1880, he acted as Adjutant of the Kandahar Field Force under General Wilkinson. Whiteford was subsequently Mentioned in Despatches by Major-General Phayre (London Gazette 25.1.1881 refers) and advanced to Captain in September 1880 - he had earlier been 'Mentioned' by Phayre in an unpublished Field Despatch dated 23.7.1879. Attaining the rank of Major in June 1887, he died of 'high fever' at Nagpur on 11.6. 1891.