William Whitmarsh Phelps was born in 1797 in Wilton, Wiltshire, England in 1797 and was baptised in trhe Church of St. Mary in Wilton near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England on 02 January 1798. His parents were Rev. John Phelps and Jane Phelps, nee Whitmarsh. He was married to Octavia Frowd in Chicklade, Wiltshire, England on 08 July 1824. Following children of the couple are known: Elizabeth Brickondon Phelps (1829-1911), Hubert Hunter Phelps (1831-1915), Frederick Philip Phelps (1832-1885), and Philip Edmund Phelps (1839-1907).

Wills and Administrations, 1867
The Will, 25 July, of the venerable William Whitmarsh Phelps, late Archdeacon of Carlisle and Canon of the Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity, Carlisle in the County of Cumberland, deceased, who died 22 June 1867 at St. Laurance Vicarage, Aplleby in the County of Westmoreland, was proved at the Principal Registry by the oaths of the Reverend John Phelps of Hatherleigh in the County of Devon, Clerk, the Brother Thomas Wheeler of High Wycombe in the County of Buckingham, Gentleman, and Edmund Boyle, Church of Highgate in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, the Executers.
Effects under £12,000.