The geology of the area is Cornbrash, the name applied to the uppermost member of the Bathonian stage of the Jurassic formation.
Born in Oxford, Whiteaves was educated at private schools, and afterwards worked under John Phillips at Oxford (1858–1861); he was led to study the Oolitic rocks, and added largely to our knowledge of the fossils of the Great Oolite series, Cornbrash and Corallian.