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Dr William Gilbert Grace (W G Grace) was an English cricketer. He was born in 1848 and died in 1915. A record breaking player, during his career playing for Gloucestershire - whom he captained for 29 years, London County and England he scored 54904 runs, 126 centuries, took 2876 wickets and held 877 catches in major matches. He scored the first Test century against Australia in 1880.
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W A Graham was an American politician. He was a Whig governor of North Carolina from 1845 until 1849.
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Sir William Alexander Smith was the founder of the Boy's Brigade. He was born in 1854 at Thurso and died in 1914. He founded the Boy's Brigade in 1883 while in Glasgow, and spent the rest of his life organising the movement of which he was secretary, travelling extensively on behalf of the Boy's Brigade visiting Canada in 1895 and the USA in 1907. He was knighted in 1909.
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W Averell Harriman was an American politician and diplomat. He was born in 1891 at New York and died in 1986. A close friend of President Roosevelt, in 1941 he was America's special war-aid representative (Lease and Lend envoy) in Britain, leading three-power supply talks between Britain, America and Russia and in 1943 was appointed ambassador to Russia, and in 1946 to Britain. He was a Democratic governor of New York from 1955 until 1958.
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William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist. He was born in 1865 in Dublin and died in 1939.
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W C C Claiborne was an American politician. He was a Jeffersonian Republican governor of Louisiana from 1812 until 1816.
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W Elmer Holt was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Montana from 1935 until 1937.
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W H James was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Nebraska from 1871 until 1873.
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W H McMaster was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of South Dakota from 1921 until 1925.
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W Haydon Burns was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida from 1965 until 1967.
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W J Bulow was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Dakota from 1927 until 1931.
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W Kerr Scott was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1949 until 1953.
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William Lyon Mackenzie King was a Canadian politician. He was born in 1874 at Berlin, Ontario and died in 1950. A Liberal politician, he was prime minister of Canada from 1921 to 1926, again from 1926 to 1930, and finally from 1935 to 1948. He maintained the unity of the English- and French-speaking populations, and was instrumental in establishing equal status for Canada with the UK.
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W Lee Knous was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Colorado from 1947 until 1950.
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W Lee O'Daniel was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Texas from 1939 until 1941.
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W R Davie was an American politician. He was a Federalist governor of North Carolina from 1798 until 1799.
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W W Holden was an American politician. He was a Republican provisional governor of North Carolina during 1865.
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W W Kitchin was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1909 until 1913.
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W W Thayer was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Oregon from 1878 until 1882.
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Wade Hampton was an American politician and noted slave owner. He was born in 1754 and died in 1835. He represented South Carolina in Congress from 1795 to 1797 and from 1803 to 1805, and commanded on the Northern frontier from 1813 to 1814. He was noted as owning 3000 slaves.
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The Wahabis were a Muslim sect founded in the middle of the 18th century in Nejd Arabia by Mohammed Abdul Wahab, who attempted to restore the primitive simplicity of Islam and established a militant church at issue both with the infidel and with other forms of Islam. In 1818 the temporal power of the
Wahabis in Arabia was crushed.
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The Wai-Wais are a South American Indian tribe still found in Guyana.
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Waino Aaltonen was a Finnish artist. He was born in 1894 and died in 1966. At first a painter, he later turned to sculpture, and was a pioneer in the revival of carving directly from stone, his favourite medium being granite, though he also worked in bronze, notable his 1925 statue of the Finnish runner Nurmi.
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Waldemar I (Waldemar the Great) was king of Denmark in 1157. He was born in 1131 and died in 1182. Aided by his great minister, Archbishop Absalon, he raised his kingdom to a high degree of prosperity. Having formed a league against the Wends with Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, he conquered the island of Rugen in 1169. He was exceedingly popular with his people, especially with the peasantry.
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Waldemar II (Waldemar the Victorious or Waldemar the Conqueror) was king of Denmark in 1202. He was born in 1170 and died in 1241. He was the youngest son of Waldemar the Great and ascended to the throne in 1202. His attempts to reduce Sweden and Norway were unsuccessful, but in Germany he acquired Holstein and Mecklenburg, and in 1219 undertook a crusade against the Esthonians, whom he routed at the Battle of Arvel, on which occasion the Danish national standard, the Danebrog, is said to have fallen down from heaven in response to the prayers of the Danish bishops. Yet when Waldemar was treacherously seized by Count Henry of Schwerin and imprisoned for two years, the German princes at once revolted against Waldemar and defeated him, after his release, at Bornhovede on July the 22nd 1227.
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Waldemar III was king of Denmark in 1340.
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Waldemar IV (Atterdag) was King of Denmark. He ascended to the throne in 1340 and died in 1375. He sold Estonia in 1346 to the Teutonic Order and in 1360 he succeeded in regaining Scania, Halland and Blekinge from the Swedish king. In 1361 he conquered Gotland, returning to Denmark with the incalculable treasures of Wisby; but this expedition involved him in two ruinous wars with the Hanseatic League and their allies, Sweden and Mecklenburg, during the second of which in 1369 his enemies burned Copenhagen. Peace was finally made at Stralsund in 1370.
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The Waldenses were a religious community founded by Peter Waldo in 1170 when he renounced his possessions and wandered as a preacher of voluntary poverty. The group established themselves in the valleys of the Cottian Alps and denounced the authority of the Church of Rome. As a result they were persecuted by the Duchess of Savoy in 1475 who ordered a war of extermination against them. In 1487 the Pope announced a Crusade against them. In 1686 the Duke of Savoy exiled to Geneva those he failed to forcibly convert. Three years later a small band returned and in 1848 were granted full religious and political rights.
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In Mediaeval England, a walker was a person who was employed to trample woollen cloth in a bath of urine so as to soften the cloth. From the profession came the family name 'Walker'.
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Wallace G Wilkinson was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Kentucky from 1987 until 1991.
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The Walloon are a French-speaking (Walloon is a northern French dialect) people of south-east Belgium and adjacent areas of France. The name Walloon is etymologically linked to Welsh.
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Walt Disney was an American artist and film producer. He was born in 1901 and died in 1967. He is best remembered for his animations. His first successful animated film was Mickey Mouse which was released in 1928.
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Walt Whitman was an American poet. He was born in 1819 at Long Island and died in 1892.
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Walter A Huxman was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Kansas from 1937 until 1939.
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Walter Baade was a German-born American astronomer. He was born in 1893 and died in 1960. He proposed the existence of two stellar populations. He deduced this from photographs taken of the satellites of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Young stars belonging to the spiral arms of galaxies he called Population I stars and the old stars associated with the more central regions he called Population II stars. Baade reinvestigated the period-luminosity law for variable stars which can be used to measure the distances of nearby galaxies. In 1952 he proposed a revision of the law which meant that the estimated distances of these galaxies had to be doubled.
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Walter Bagehot was an English economist and journalist. He was born in 1826 at Langport, Somerset and died in 1877. He studied at Bristol, and at University College, London, and graduated as B.A. and M.A. at the London University in 1848. He was for some time associated with his father in the banking business at Langport, and for a number of years he acted as London agent for the bank. He was one of the editors of the National Review from 1855 until 1864, and from 1860 until his death he was editor and part proprietor of the Economist. His chief works are: Physics and Politics; The English Constitution; Lombard Street; and Studies, Literary, Biographic, and Economic. He was a high authority on economics, banking, and finance, and was often consulted by public men.
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Sir Walyer Besant was an English novelist. He was born in 1836 and died in 1901. Educated in London and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with mathematical honours. He was for a time professor in the Royal College, Mauritius.
His first work, Studies in Early French Poetry, appeared in 1868, and to the field of French literature also belong his French Humorists and his Rabelais (for the Foreign Classics series). He was for years secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund, and has published a History of Jerusalem in connection with Professor Palmer, a biography of whom he also wrote. He is best known by his novels, a number of which were written in partnership with James Rice, including Ready-Money Mortiboy; This Son of Vulcan; The Case of Mr. Lucraft; The Golden Butterfly, The Monks of Thelema; etc. After the death of James Rice in 1882 he wrote All Sorts and Conditions of Men; All in a Garden Fair; The World Went very Well Then; The Rebel Queen; etc.
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Walter Crane was an English painter, decorative artist and prominent socialist. He was born in 1845 at Liverpool and died in 1915. He was apprenticed to W J Linton, the well-known wood-engraver, and soon began to illustrate books, and in 1862 exhibited a picture - The Lady of Shalott - at the Royal Academy. He has held various posts in connection with art education, such as that of principal of the Royal College of Art, South Kensington from 1898 to 1899, and had numerous medals and other honours conferred upon him in recognition of his artistic work. He belongs essentially to the imaginative and poetic school of artists, and his tendency was towards pre-Raphaelitism and mediaevalism, the decorative element also making itself more or less prominent. Among his chief pictures are Renascence of Venus, Fate of Persephone, Europa, The Bridge of Life, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, England's Emblem, The Rainbow and the Wave, Britannia's Vision, The World's Conquerors. The Sirens Three is a poem written and decoratively illustrated by himself. Spenser's Faerie Queene and Shepherd's Calendar, some of Shakespeare's plays, etc, have been illustrated by him; and he did much in the decoration of buildings internally. He aided the socialist movement, both as a writer and as a lecturer.
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Walter Dale Miller was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of South Dakota from 1993 until 1995.
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Walter de Stapledon was an English divine. He was born in 1261 at Annery, Devon and died in 1326. Educated at Oxford, he occupied the chair of cannon law their before being elected bishop of Exeter in 1307. He devoted a great deal of time and money to the rebuilding of Exeter cathedral. In conjunction with his brother, Richard de Stapledon he founded Stapledon Hall, Oxford which later became Exeter College, for the benefit of poor scholars from the Exeter diocese. Walter de Stapledon was murdered by a mob at Cheapside in 1326.
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Walter E Edge was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Jersey from 1944 until 1947.
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Walter Fitz-Ponce was a Norman baron who acquired the castle of Clifford, in Herefordshire, under Henry II, and thence took the name of Clifford, founding the famous British noble Clifford family.
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Walter Forward was an American politician. He was born in 1786 and died in 1852. He was a Congressman from Pennsylvania from 1822 to 1825, and was active in the State Constitutional Convention in 1837. He was appointed First Controller of the Treasury in 1841, was Secretary of the Treasury in Tyier's Cabinet from 1841 to 1843, and Charge d'affaires to Denmark from 1849 to 1851.
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Stephen S Foster was an American anti-slavery agitator. He was born in 1809 and died in 1881. He studied for the ministry, but zealously opposed the pulpit for upholding slavery, and published 'The Brotherhood of Thieves: a True Picture of the American Church and Clergy', and many articles on the abolition of slavery.
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Walter Hagen was an American professional golfer. He was born in 1892 and died in 1969. He was the winner of four Open Championships, two US Open Championships, five US Professional Golfers Association Championships, numerous lesser national titles and more than 60 sponsored tournaments.
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Walter Reginald Hammond was an English cricketer. He was born in 1903 and died in 1965. An outstanding all-rounder, he was a commanding batsman, penetrative fast-medium bowler and superb slip fielder - taking a record 78 catches in 1928. He played for Gloucestershire and England, playing in 85 Test matches in which he made 22 centuries, seven being over 200 runs, and against New Zealand in 1928 he made 336 not out.
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Walter Harriman was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1867 until 1869.
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Walter Farquhar Hook was the Dean of Chichester. He was born in 1798 and died in 1875. In 1821 he graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, was appointed vicar of Leeds in 1837, and promoted to the deanery of Chichester in 1859. He wrote a Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Biography, a Church Dictionary, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, etc.
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Walter J Kohler Jr. was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Wisconsin from 1951 until 1957.
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Walter J Kohler Sr. was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Wisconsin from 1929 until 1931.
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Walter Savage Landor was an English poet. He was born in 1775 at Warwick and died in 1864. Educated at Knowle, Rugby and Trinity College, Oxford, he raised and accompanied a force to fight for Spanish independence against Napoleon during the Peninsular War.
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Walter Leake was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of Mississippi from 1822 until 1825.
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Walter M Pierce was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Oregon from 1923 until 1927.
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Walter Maddock was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Dakota from 1928 until 1929.
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Walter William Ouless was an English portrait painter. He was born in 1848 at St Helier on Jersey.
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Walter Hines Page was an American diplomat and journalist. He was born in 1855 in North Carolina and died in 1918. After being educated at Johns Hopkins University he became a partner in the publishing firm of Doubleday Page and Company. From 1890 to 1895 he edited The Forum and edited other publications. In 1913 he was appointed by President Wilson American ambassador in London where he worked to promote Anglo-American unity. He retired due to ill health in 1918.
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Walter Pater was an English critic. He was born in 1839 and died in 1894.
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Walter R Peterson Jr. was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1969 until 1973.
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Sir Walter Raleigh was an English soldier, explorer and author. He was born in 1552 at Hayes Barton and died in 1618. He saw his first battles at Jarnac in 1569 and Montcontour, fighting as a volunteer. In 1577 a patent of colonization was given to his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert; but the expedition in which Raleigh took part in 1578 was a failure. In 1580 he helped Lord Grey de Wilton, Irish deputy, in putting down an insurrection. He then saw service in the Netherlands with the French Huguenots under Coligny. During the next few years he sent out expeditions to America, explored the seaboard from Florida to Newfoundland, and christened Virginia, which he endeavoured, though in vain, to plant with colonists. At the same time he attempted to introduce settlers into Ireland. A friend of the poet Spenser, Raleigh represented the influence of the renaissance movement among the Upper classes in Elizabeth I' s reign. His influence at court was often great, and he devoted all his energies to crippling the power of Spain.
In 1592 he prepared an expedition, which sailed under Frobisher, but the same year was himself sent to the Tower as a punishment for a court intrigue. In 1595 he went with Keymis to help to find gold in Guiana. he sailed up the Orinoco, but was unable to establish any permanent settlement. In 1596 he took part in an expedition against Spain under Lord Howard of Effingham and Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex. Cadiz was attacked and stormed, and a Spanish fleet destroyed. In 1597 Raleigh, Essex, and Sir Thomas Howard equipped another fleet to attack Spain, but little was achieved due to arguments and stormy weather. In 1600 Raleigh was made governor of Jersey in America, and started a trade between Jersey and Newfoundland, and did much to promote the prosperity of the island. James I did not like Raleigh, and deprived him of his office of captain of the guard. Raleigh's advocacy of war with Spain increased James' dislike, and in 1603, being suspected of complicity with Cobham in a plot against the king he was sent to the Tower and tried for high treason. Though condemned to death, he was reprieved.
At length, James' being in great need of money, listened to Villiers who urged him to release Raleigh and allow him to make an expedition to Guiana to look for gold. Accordingly, on March the 16th 1616, Raleigh was allowed to leave the Tower. Though not pardoned, Raleigh was full of hope, and started in April 1617. The expedition was a failure, and Raleigh's son was killed. He arrived at Plymouth on June the 21st 1618 and was executed on October the 29th.
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Walter Roscoe Stubbs was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Kansas from 1909 until 1913.
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Walter S Goodland was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Wisconsin from 1943 until 1947.
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Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish novelist. He was born in 1771 at Edinburgh and died in 1832.
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Walter Richard Sickert was an English artist. He was born in 1860 and died in 1942.
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Walter Skeat was the first great English philologist. He was born in 1835 and died in 1912. He wrote The Principles of English Etymology and the Etymological English Dictionary. He was the founder and later president of the English Dialect Society.
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Walter Chalmers Smith was a Scottish minister and poet. He was born in 1824 and died in 1908. Educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen and ant New College, Edinburgh in 1850 he became minister of the Scottish free Church in Pentonville, London. Later he held ministerial appointments at Milanthort, Kinross, Roxburgh Free Church, Edinburgh, the free Tron Church, Glasgow and the Free High Church Edinburgh. He was moderator of the General Assembly from 1893 to 1894. He published his first poetry under the pseudonym of Orwell.
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Walter W Bacon was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Delaware from 1941 until 1949.
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Walter W Johnson was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Colorado from 1950 until 1951.
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Walter Welford was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Dakota from 1935 until 1937.
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The Wampanoags were a former tribe of Massachusetts Indians. They at first showed great friendliness toward the white settlers. In 1621 they entered into an amicable compact with the Plymouth settlers, and continued in peaceable trade relations with them. Later Massasoit, the chief of the tribe, was on terms of friendship with Roger Williams. They resisted all attempts to convert them to Christianity and so in 1676 a war was waged upon them by the white settlers. The tribe were quickly wiped out, the few survivors being scattered.
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The Wapisianas are a South American Indian tribe still found in Guyana.
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The Warraus are a South American Indian tribe still found in Guyana.
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Warren E Hearnes was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Missouri from 1965 until 1973.
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Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th president of the USA from 1921 to 1923.
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Warren Garst was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Iowa from 1908 until 1909.
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Warren Green was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of South Dakota from 1931 until 1933.
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Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th president of the USA. He was born in 1865 in Ohio and died in 1923. After various manual jobs, he found employment in the newspaper business, becoming a director of the ' Marion Star' before becoming involved in politics with the Republican party and in 1914 was elected a US senator, and in 1921 became president. His presidency was beset by corruption and scandals, and he died in 1923 supposedly from exhaustion resulting from political scandals surrounding corrupt individuals he had appointed and trusted.
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Warren Hastings was the first governor-general of India. He was born in 1732 at Daylesford in Worcestershire and died in 1818. He was the grandson of the rector of Daylesford. He was educated at Westminster School, and in 1750 he set out for Bengal in the capacity of a writer in the service of the East India Company. When stationed at Cossimbazar he was taken prisoner by Surajah Dowlah on the capture of the place in 1756. Having made his escape, he served as a volunteer under Clive in 1757.
He was representative of the Company at Moorshedabad from 1758 to 1761. In the latter year he moved to Calcutta, having obtained a seat in the Bengal Council, but returned to England in 1764. As he lost the bulk of his means by unfortunate Indian investments, he again entered the Company's service, and sailed for India in 1769. In consequence of the misgovernment of the Nabob of Bengal the Company had deprived him of all real power, and now wished to have the country more directly under their control. Warren Hastings was its chief instrument in this undertaking, and in 1772 became president of the Supreme Council of Calcutta. Mohammed Reza Khan, the administrator of the revenues of Bengal, was now accused by an unprincipled character named Nuncomar of corruption and abuses of power. In this prosecution William Hastings acted as the tool of the Company. Mohammed and Shitab Roy, dewan of Behar (who had been similarly accused), were afterwards honourably acquitted, but meantime the reorganization desired by the Company had been carried out.
In 1773 the Company's powers were considerably modified by an act of parliament and William Hastings now received the title of Governor-general of India. As the majority of the Council disapproved of William Hastings' past policy, Nuncomar, his old ally, took advantage of the circumstance to accuse him of peculation in 1776. The accusations were favourably received by the Council, when Nuncomar was suddenly accused by a Calcutta merchant of forgery, was tried, and executed - a fate which he undoubtedly deserved.
In 1776 the directors of the Company petitioned government for his removal from the Council, but William Hastings resigned, and a successor to him was appointed. In 1777 one of the members of the Council died, and William Hastings,having thus procured a casting vote, withdrew his resignation, and returned to office. He now displayed extraordinary resource in meeting dangerous movements on the part of the Mahrattas, the Nizam of the Deccan, and Hyder Ali of Mysore, and to procure the needful money was less than scrupulous in his treatment of the rulers of Benares and Oude. He thus gave good grounds for censure, and a motion for his recall was passed in the House of Commons.
Fox's India Bill was thrown out in 1783, but next year Pitt's bill, establishing the board of control, passed, and William Hastings resigned. He left India in 1785, and was impeached by Burke in 1786, being charged with acts of injustice and oppression, with maladministration, receiving of bribes, etc. This celebrated trial, in which Burke, Fox, and Sheridan thundered against him, began in 1788, and terminated in 1795 with his acquittal, but cost him his fortune.
The Company in 1796 settled on him an annuity of 4000 pounds a year, and lent him 50,000 pounds for eighteen years-free of interest. He passed the remainder of his life in retirement at Daylesford, which he purchased.
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Warren P Knowles was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Wisconsin from 1965 until 1971.
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Warren T McCray was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Indiana from 1921 until 1924.
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Warren Winslow was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1854 until 1855.
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Washington Allston was an American painter. He was born in 1779 and died in 1843. Described as the first important American romantic painter, he experimented in dramatic subject matter and the use of light and atmospheric colour.
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Washington Bartlett was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of California during 1887.
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Washington E Lindsey was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Mexico from 1917 until 1919.
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Washington Hunt was an American politician. He was a Whig governor of New York from 1851 until 1852.
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Washington Irving was an American author. He was born in 1783 at New York and died in 1859.
He spent a large part of his life abroad. In 1807, in partnership with his brother, he established the Salmagundi. In 1808 he published his 'Knickerbocker History of New York'. In 1819 appeared the 'Sketch Book', which proved a great success. This was followed by 'Tales of a Traveler', 'Life of Columbus', which is considered his best historical work, 'The Conquest of Granada',and 'The Alhambra'. From 1829 to 1832 he was Secretary of Legation in London. He served as Minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846. His greatest work is a 'Life of Washington' in five volumes published in 1855, but he also developed the 'short-story' wrote 'Rip Van Winkle'.
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Washington A Roebling was an American engineer. He was born in 1837 and died after 1897. He was the son of the German immigrant John Roebling, was a colonel in the American Civil War, serving at South Mountain, Antietam and Bull Run. He succeeded his father in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which had been started by his father in 1869 and was completed in 1883.
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Waslaw Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. He was born in 1890 and died in 1950. He was associated with Diaghilev and his creations include settings of Stravinsky's Petrushkaand The Rite of Spring.
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Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian artist. He was born in 1866 at Moscow and died in 1944.
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Wat Tyler was the leader of the English peasant's revolt of 1381.
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Wayne Mixson was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida during 1987.
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Wenceslas IV was king of Bohemia. He was born in 1361 and died in 1419.
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The Wend were a Slavic people of Saxony and East Prussia.
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Wendell Ford was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Kentucky from 1971 until 1974.
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Wendell Phillips was an American abolitionist. He was born in 1811 at Boston and died in 1884. Educated at Harvard he became a lawyer, but from 1837 onward gave his chief energies to the abolitionist movement. He was the lecturer of the cause, as Garrison was the writer. For many years he laboured against a hostile sentiment. He succeeded Garrison as president of the anti-slavery society. He was, moreover, an ardent advocate of the temperance and woman suffrage reforms, a champion of the greenback party, and an eloquent and acceptable lecturer on various topics, such as the Lost Arts, etc.
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Wendell R Anderson was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Farmer- Labor governor of Minnesota from 1971 until 1976.
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Wenzel Hollar (also known as Wenceslaus Hollar) was a Bohemian engraver. He was born in about 1607 at Prague and died in 1677. He accompanied the Earl of Arundel, the British ambassador to the German emperor, to London, who employed him to engrave some of the pictures of his collection. Among his numerous works, which are esteemed for their delicate, firm, and spirited execution, and which number some 2740 plates, are a set of twenty-eight plates, entitled Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus, representing the dresses of Englishwomen of all ranks and conditions in full-length figures; Holbein's Dance of Death, etc.
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Werner Herzog is a German film director. He was born in 1942. His films include 'Signs of Life',' Fata Morgana', 'Aguirre', 'Wrath of God','Wozzeck' and 'Fitzcarraldo'.
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Wes Craven is an American film director. He was born in 1939 at Cleveland, Ohio. A film producer, editor and occasional actor, he is best known for his horror films which include 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and the 'Scream' series.
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Wesley Bolin was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arizona from 1977 until 1978.
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Wesley Powell was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1959 until 1963.
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Westmoreland Davis was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Virginia from 1918 until 1922.
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In the 16th century, a whiffler was an attendant armed with a javelin, battleaxe, sword, or staff employed to keep the way clear for a procession or other public spectacle. In effect, an early form of steward involved in crowd control.
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Whig was a nickname applied to the Covenanters in Scotland and later generally to the Presbyterian party in Scotland and the opponents of the monarchy in England. In the early 19th century the term was replaced with ' liberal'.
In the United States, the name of Whigs was taken by the party which furthered the Revolution, because their principles were but the application to America of those principles which the Whigs of England had advocated, and had secured through the Revolution of 1688. In 1834 the name was revived. The Federal party had virtually come to an end about 1817. Henceforth all American politicians were simply Republicans. But, as will usually happen in such cases, a divergence of views developed itself within the party. Adams and Clay and their followers, on the one hand, advocated a policy of protection and federal internal improvements and a broad or loose construction of the Constitution. Others, on the other hand, construing the Constitution strictly, opposed these things; these found a leader in Jackson. The former took the name of National Republicans. Adams was their candidate in 1828. After his defeat their chief leader was Clay, whom they nominated for President in 1831.
Their opposition to Jackson drew to them various elements and, as opponents of executive usurpation, the coalition took the old name of Whigs in 1834. The Whig body always formed rather a coalition than a party. They were united in opposition to Jackson, but the Northern Whigs favoured the US Bank, a protective tariff, etc., while the Southern Whigs were strict constructionists.
In the election of 1836 these various elements supported various candidates. In that of 1840 they united upon the available Harrison, and triumphantly elected him and Tyler in a campaign of unthinking enthusiasm. Harrison died, and the Whigs quarreled violently with Tyler.
In 1844 they nominated their real leader, Clay, who narrowly missed election. The annexation of Texas and the Mexican War and the Wilmot proviso now brought slavery to the front as the leading issue of politics. This was fatal to the Whigs, for it was sure to divide the Northern and the Southern Whigs. In 1848 they preserved themselves temporarily by passing over Clay and Webster and nominating a military candidate, Taylor. He was elected. But when similar tactics were tried in 1852 with Scott, the party was decisively defeated. It was disintegrating because of its inability to maintain any opinion on slavery.
The Northern Whigs became Free-soilers, and by 1856, Republicans; the Southern, Democrats. Many Whigs went temporarily into the American-party. A small portion of them formed the Constitutional Union Party which nominated Bell and Everett in 1860. Parties became sectional, and the Whig party ceased to exist. Its chief leaders were, beside those mentioned, in the North, Winthrop, Choate, Seward, Weed and Greeley; in the South, Mangum, Berrien, Forsyth, Stephens, Toombs, Prentiss and Crittenden; in the West, McLean, Giddings, Ewing and Corwin.
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The whiggamores were a body of rebels from the western part of Scotland who, in 1648, marched on Edinburgh in opposition to Charles I.
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A whipping boy was formerly a boy servant retained to be whipped in place of a prince when the prince required chastisement. Mungo Murray was the whipping boy employed to be whipped in place of Charles I. Barnaby Fitzpatrick was the whipping boy whipped in place of Edward VI.
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Whitemarsh B Seabrook was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina from 1848 until 1850.
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Whitley Stokes was an Irish scholar. He was born in 1830 at Dublin and died in 1909. Educated at Dublin university where his father was professor of physics, Whitley Stokes lived in India from 1862 until 1882 where he drafted the codes of civil and criminal procedure. His reputation, however, rests upon his numerous works associated with the Celtic languages.
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Wibba was king of Mercia in 597.
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Wihtred was king of the Heptarchy in 694.
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Wilber M Brucker was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Michigan from 1931 until 1932.
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Wilbur Wright was the brother of Orville Wright. He was born in 1867 and died in 1912.
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Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was an English poet. He was born in 1893 at Plas Wilmot, Oswestry, Shropshire and died in 1918. He was educated at Birkenhead Institute and London University. He went to France 1913 as a tutor, returning to England to enlist in the Artists' Rifles in 1915; two years later he was invalided home and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital, Edinburgh, where Sassoon was his fellow patient. Sent back to France as a company commander, he won the MC, but was killed in the crossing of the Sambre Canal. His verse, owing much to the encouragement of Siegfried Sassoon, is among the most moving of Great War poetry; it shatters the illusion of the glory of war, revealing its hollowness and cruel destruction of beauty. Only four poems were published during his lifetime; he was killed in action a week before the Armistice. Sassoon posthumously collected and edited his Poems in 1920. Among the best known are 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', published in 1921. Benjamin Britten used
several of the poems in his War Requiem of 1962. In technique Owen's work is distinguished by the extensive use of assonance in place of rhyme, anticipating the later school of W H Auden and Stephen Spender.
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Wilfred Rhodes was an English cricket player. He was born in 1877 and died in 1973. He played as an all-rounder for Yorkshire and England, in a career that spanned from 1898 to 1930 during which time he took 4187 wickets and scored almost 40000 runs.
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Wilhem Heinrich Immanuel Bleek was a German linguist. He was born in 1827 at Berlin 1827 and died in 1875. In 1855 he went to South Africa and devoted himself to the study of the language, manners, and customs of the natives. In 1860 he was appointed public librarian at Cape Town, and his researches were rewarded with a pension from the civil list. He was principal author of the Handbook of African, Australian, and Polynesian Philology, 1858-63, his other chief productions being Vocabulary of the Mozambique Languages, 1856; Comparative Grammar of South African Languages, 1862; Hottentot cables and Tales, 1864; and The Origin of Language, 1868.
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Wilhelm Dindorf was a German classical scholar. He was born in 1802 and died in 1883. He lived most of his life at Leipzig. His chief publications were editions of the Greek dramatists and works elucidative of them and other Greek writers.
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Wilhelm Karl Grimm was a German philologist. He was born in 1786 and died in 1859. Together with his brother Jakob Grimm they wrote a book of fairy tales. He was educated at Cassel and Marburg, and in 1830 he followed his brother to Gottingen, and obtained a professorship. He joined in his brother's protest against the abrogation of the new Hanoverian constitution, and was deprived of his office. Having obtained an appointment in Berlin, he died in that city in 1859. He devoted himself especially to the German mediaeval poetry, and published a treatise, Ueber die deutschen Runen, a translation of Altdanische Heldenlieder, Balladen und Marchen, etc, all with valuable introductions and disquisitions.
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Wilhelm Haring, best known as Wilibald Alexis, was a German novelist. He was born in 1797 and died in 1871. He adopted law as a profession, but gave it up in favour of literature. In 1823 and 1827 respectively he published the novels Walladmor and Schloss Avalon, which were translated into English and other languages. These were followed by a long series of writings, consisting not only of novels and novelettes, but of books of travel, plays, ballads, etc. His most important works, however, were historic novels, such as Cabanis, Roland von Berlin, Der Falsche Waldemar, etc.
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Wilhelm Hauff was a German author. He was born in 1802 at Stuttgart and died in 1827.
His first publication. was his Almanach of Tales for the Year 1826, which was followed by similar collections for the next two years, the whole forming a collection that has been highly popular. Extracts from the Memoirs of Satan appeared in 1827, but remained uncompleted. Lichtenstein, a novel written under the inspiration of Sir Walter Scott appeared in 1826 and was rated as one of the best German novels of its class. In 1827 was published 'The Man In The Moon' and in the same year 'Fantasies in the Wine Cellar)of Bremen Council', a comedy which was very well received. Wilhelm Hauff was famous in his days for his comedies and fantastic stories.
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Wilhelm Kieft was the fifth Dutch Governor of New Netherlands. He was born in 1600 and died in 1647. He ruled from 1638 to 1647. He concentrated the government in himself. He improved the condition and appearance of New Amsterdam, repaired the forts, prohibited illegal traffic, enforced obedience to the police ordinances of the town, erected public houses and improved the system of land tenure. His rule was nevertheless tyrannical and despotic, and he was detested by the people. He organized the first representative assembly in New Netherlands in 1641, but dissolved it in 1643. He was recalled in 1647 at the request of the colonists.
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Wilhelm Ostwald was a German chemist. He was born in 1853 at Riga and died in 1932. He was appointed Professor of Chemistry in Leipzig in 1887 and conducted research into physical chemistry and solutions.
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Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen was a German physicist who discovered x-rays. He was born in 1845 and died in 1923.
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Wilhelm Steinitz was a Bohemian chess-player. He was born in 1836 at Prague and died in 1900. Educated at the institute of technology, Vienna, in 1866 he beat Andressen in a match by eight games to six, and in 1868 he won first prize in the British Chess Association Handicap. In 1872 he won the London grand tournament, the 1873 Vienna chess conference and in 1876 he defeated Blackburne in seven consecutive games. For some time he was chess editor of The Field and in 1884 he settled in the USA where he published The International Chess Magazine from 1885 until 1891.
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Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen was a German soldier. He was born in 1716 and died in 1800. He went to the United States as second in command of the Hessians in 1776. In 1777 he was placed in command of the German auxiliaries. He fought at Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington, Brandywine and Monmouth. During the absence of Sir Henry Clinton in 1780, he was in command of New York. He returned to Europe in 1783.
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a 19th century German composer. He was born in 1813 at Leipzig and died in 1883. His first opera, Rienzi, was refused in Paris but was accepted and performed at Dresden in 1842. It was followed by The Flying Dutchman in 1843. Owing to his revolutionary politics, he was exiled for some years and suffered great poverty until 1864 when Ludwig, King of Bavaria, provided him with a home and income at Munich. He later resided at Bayreuth where his great festival theatre was set up. In 1870 he married Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt.
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Wilhem Bissen was a Danish sculptor. He was born in 1798 and died in 1868. He studied at Rome under Thorwaldsen, who in his will appointed Wilhem Bissen to complete his unfinished works and take charge of his museum. Wilhem Bissen's own works include a classic frieze of several hundred feet for the palace-hall at Copenhagen, an Atalanta hunting, Cupid sharpening his arrows, etc.
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Wilhem Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He was born in 1898 and died in 1978. His planes included the first jet combat aircraft.
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Wilhem Tegetthoff (Baron Von Tegetthoff) was an Austrian sailor. He was born in 1827 at Marburg and died in 1871. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Heligoland and in the Seven Weeks' War he commanded the Adriatic fleet, and defeated the Italians under Persano at the Battle of Lissa in 1866. In 1868 he was made commander-in-chief of the Austrian navy.
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Wilhelm Adolf Becker was a German archaeologist. He was born in 1796 at Dresden 1796 and died in 1846. In 1828 he became a teacher at Meissen, and in 1837 was appointed extraordinary professor of classical archaeology at Leipsic, and in 1842 ordinary professor. His best known works are: Gallus; Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus, and Charikles; Illustrations of the Life of the Ancient Greeks, which wonderfully reproduce the social life of old Rome and Greece
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William Whiting was an American soldier. He was born in 1825 and died in 1865. He commanded the Confederate brigade whose arrival won the battle of Bull Run. He constructed Fort Fisher and took command in 1864, defending it until 1865.
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Willa Mae Buckner ('The Snake Lady') was an American blues singer and entertainer. She was born in 1922 at Augusta, Georgia and died in 2000. As well as a blues singer, she worked cabaret doing fire eating, a snake act and exotic dancing covered in gold paint.
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Willard P Hall was an American politician. He was a Union governor of Missouri from 1864 until 1865.
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Willard Saulsbury was an American politician. He was born in 1820 and died in 1892. He was Attorney-General of Delaware from 1850 to 1855. He represented Delaware in the US Senate as a Democrat from 1859 to 1871. He earnestly supported the Union and sought to prevent the American Civil War. He formed the famous Saulsbury combination with his brothers Gove and Eli, which ruled Delaware politics for thirty years. He was Chancellor of Delaware from 1874 to 1892.
Saunders, Romulus M. (1791-1867), represented North Carolina in the U. S. Congress as a Democrat from 1821 to 1827 and from 1841 to 1845. He •was Minister to Spain from 1846 to 1849.
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Willem Bilderdijk was a Dutch poet. He was born in 1756 and died in 1831. He studied at Leyden, and cultivated poetry while practising as an advocate at the Hague. On the invasion of the Netherlands by the French he left his country and lived abroad for many years, part of the time in London, where he delivered, in the French language, lectures on literature and poetry. He returned to Holland in 1799, and soon afterwards published some of his principal works, many of which are translations or imitations. Of his own compositions the principal are Rural Life, The Love of Fatherland, The Maladies of Scholars, The Destruction of the First World, etc. When Napoleon returned from Elba Willem Bilderdijk produced a number of war-songs, which are considered among the best in Dutch poetry. He also wrote a treatise on Geology and a History of Holland in ten volumes, etc.
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Willem Einthoven was a Dutch physiologist. He was born in 1860 and died in 1927. In 1924 he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his invention of the electrocardiogram.
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Willem Usselinx was a Dutch businessman. He was born in 1567 at Antwerp and died in 1647. A Dutch merchant, he planned the Dutch West India Company, which was chartered in 1621, but becoming dissatisfied, went over into the service of Gustavus Adolphus in 1624, and founded the Swedish West India Company, which was chartered in 1626. The remainder of his life was spent in efforts in behalf of that company in various countries of Europe.
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Willem van Aelst was a Dutch painter of lavish flower pieces and still lifes. He was born in 1625 and died in 1683. He was a pupil of his uncle Evert van Aelst. He worked in Paris, Florence, and Rome where he was court painter to Ferdinando de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, before settling in Amsterdam in 1657. His pupils included Rachel Ruysch.
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