Raymond Leslie Whitmore was born near Luton, England, in 1920. He was a distinguished mining and metallurgical engineer and historian. After finishing school he worked as a laboratory assistant in the Mining Department at the University of Birmingham and studied externally for a physics degree from the University of London, which he completed in 1942. He then joined the RAF and was posted to the radio training school at Yatesbury. After a few postings elsewhere, he was transferred to RAF Malvern in July 1943 to undertake special radar duties. Following demobilisation, he returned to academia and was awarded his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 1949. In October 1947, while studying for his PhD, he married Ruth Franklin, with whom he had two sons.

In May 1953 Whitmore was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mining and Fuels at Nottingham University, where his research focused on the cleaning of coal. He published extensively and, by 1959, had been awarded a Doctor of Science by the University of Birmingham. This was followed shortly afterwards by a promotion to Reader in the Department.

In September 1967 he was appointed to the Chair of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Queensland. From 1970 to 1974 he represented UQ on the Australian Research Grants Commission, and held the first of a series of positions with Engineers Australia, ultimately serving as Chairman of the Queensland Division in 1982, and as a member of the National Council. He was made an Honorary Fellow in 1998. Whitmore was also a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and became a life member of the Australian Coal Preparation Society. For a brief time he was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 1974 to 1975. In 1976, he decided to relinquish the Headship of the Department while continuing as Professor of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. This allowed him to focus more on scholarship and research. His interest in history ultimately evolved into the writing of a three-volume history of coal in Queensland. He also formed the first Engineering Heritage Panels within the Institution of Engineers Australia, initially in Queensland and then nationally in 1976. His outstanding achievements in engineering heritage were recognised by the award of the John Monash medal for Engineering Heritage in 2005. In 1994 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to mining and metallurgical engineering and to engineering history, heritage and industrial archaeology. Whitmore died on 20 December 2008.