Battle of Coronel
White was born at Torquay, Devon, son of Hugh Fortescue Moresby White (1891-1979), CMG, of the Colonial Office, Senior Resident in Nigeria, and Elizabeth ("Betty") Sophia Pennington Brandt, daughter of Captain Frank Brandt, killed at the Battle of Coronel in command of HMS Monmouth. He was a descendant of Admiral of the Fleet Fairfax Moresby.