Henry George Whiting was born on 27 March 1889 at Adelong, New South Wales, one of eighteen children born to James and Annie Elizabeth Whiting (née Schafer). He attended Adelong Public School and later trained as a teacher at Sydney Teachers College, being officially appointed to the New South Wales Public Service as a public school teacher in 1913. Whiting was teaching at Adelong when he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 11 September 1917 at Wagga Wagga. The 28-year-old was allotted the service number 4930 and the rank of private and was assigned to the 1st Pioneer Battalion. Two of his younger brothers, Mervyn and Stanley, enlisted just over a week later with the same unit, and on 26 September the three men marched into Victoria Barracks in Sydney. Whiting, along with his brothers and the other reinforcements, embarked from Sydney on 19 December 1917 aboard the troopship HMAT Ulysses.

Arriving in Egypt in mid-January 1918, the men made their way to Italy and then through the Alps into France. After crossing the English Channel to Southampton, Whiting travelled to the military training camp at Sutton Veny. From March onwards he joined the Pioneer Training Battalion and during this time he was able to meet up with his brother, Walter, who was in England recovering from a bomb wound to the head. Whiting had just managed to catch his brother before his return to the Western Front in France and it would be the last time he saw his brother alive. The cold weather began to affect the men in the camp, many succumbing to pneumonia and other bouts of illness. Whiting himself came down with the mumps in May but returned to camp the next month after recovering. He remained in England for the remainder of the year and for the remainder of the war.

At the end of January 1919, Whiting was sent to France to join the 1st Pioneer Battalion. In March he was detached for duty with the Graves Registration Unit. He and his brothers Mervyn and Stanley had been among the ten that had volunteered from the 1st Pioneers to join the battalion-sized unit, with others volunteering from their respective battalions. The three brothers were involved in exhuming, identifying and reburying soldiers killed in France in purpose built military cemeteries. In a detailed letter home, Whiting writes of the task and how thankful he is that his brother Walter and cousin Henry (both killed during the early stages of the Battle of Amiens in August 1918) were properly buried without having to be raised again, and his wish to leave France knowing he had done all he could to properly attend to their graves. In August, Whiting returned to the 1st Pioneers and within a few days was back at Sutton Veny in England. On 25 September he and his brothers left Devonport for Australia aboard SS Port Denison and arrived in Sydney on 17 November. After the war Whiting took up teaching at Ashfield Public School in Sydney, living in Annandale and later Campbelltown. Henry George Whiting eventually passed away on 24 January 1977 at the age of 87.