Born in Hampstead, London, England, Whiting studied art at the St. John’s Wood School of Art, the Royal Academy Schools, and at the Academie Julian in Paris. Employed by The Graphic newspaper, Whiting covered the 1900–1901 civil wars in China and the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese war as a graphic correspondent. His works have been widely exhibited by the Royal Academy, the Royal Watercolour Society, the National Portrait Society, the Paris Salon, and the Anglo-German Exhibition of 1913.