Mr Whittaker, a former player with Accrington and Tottenham Hotspur, represented the Southern League at a number of public and private meetings with the backers of the newly-constitued Exeter City AFC Ltd during the early months of 1908. His involvement, and general enthusiasm for the project, indicated how the Southern League was keen to enhance its presence as the leading competition outside of the Football League. As with all such competitions between 1888 and 1914, the league was very in an expansionist phase and - with the benefit of hindsight - it almost appears that City's admission to the Southern League was something of a 'done deal' once all finance and administrative procedures were in place.

A noted referee, who had taken control of the 1907 FA Cup final between The Wednesday and Everton, his roots were very much in Lancashire where he had been born at Church near Accrington in 1863. Whether or he put in a good word for Arthur Chadwick, a fellow Lancastrian, when City were seeking a manager remains a matter of conjecture.

Nat Whittaker died in London in 1922 around the same time as Jimmy Skeggs, then chair of Millwall, who had also supported the Grecians' application in 1908.