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The History Channel - Encyclopedia Category: History and Culture > History Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 25833

Williams, William Carlos
(1883-1963) US poet, essayist, and theoretician. He was associated with Imagism and Objectivism. One of the most original and influential of modern poets, he is noted for advancing poetics of visual images and...

Williamson, Henry
(1895-1977) English writer. His stories of animal life include Tarka the Otter (1927). He wrote the fictional 15-volume sequence A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight (1951-69), and described his own experiences...

Willibald, St
(c.700-786) English missionary. He was sent to Germany to help his cousin St Boniface convert the populace to Christianity. Boniface installed him as bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria in 742. He later founded a...

Willis, Norman David
(1933) English trade union leader. A trade union official since leaving school, he was the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) 1984-93 and president of the European TUC 1991-93. He...

Williston, Samuel
(1861-1963) US jurist. He codified commercial law that was adopted by most US states. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was professor (1890-1938) and active professor emeritus (1938-63) at Harvard Law...

Williston, Samuel Wendell
(1851-1918) US palaeontologist and entomologist; Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Williston was the leader of numerous western expeditions. He published important work on Cretaceous and Permian amphibians and...

Willkie, Wendell Lewis
(1892-1944) US politician who was the Republican presidential candidate in 1940. After losing to Franklin D Roosevelt, he continued as a leader of the liberal wing of...

Willoughby, Westel Woodbury
(1867-1945) US political scientist. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, he practised law for several years. He taught at Johns Hopkins University (1897-1933) and served as a technical adviser to...

Wilmot Proviso
In US history, proposed amendment for the prohibition of slavery in any territory acquired by federal funds, first put to Congress by the Democrat David Wilmot in 1846. Although the amendment was...

Wilmot, David
(1814-1868) US politician. He drew up an amendment that would prohibit slavery in any territory acquired by federal funds, known as the Wilmot Proviso. Born in Bethany, Pennsylvania, the son of a prosperous...

Wilson, (James) Harold
(1916-1995) British Labour politician, party leader from 1963, prime minister 1964-70 and 1974-76. His premiership was dominated by the issue of UK admission to membership of the...

Wilson, A(ndrew) N(orman)
(1950) English novelist and biographer. His first novel was The Sweets of Pimlico (1977). Among the subjects of his biographies have been the novelists Leo Tolstoy (1988) and C S Lewis (1990), and Jesus...

Wilson, Angus (Frank Johnstone)
(1913-1991) English novelist, short-story writer, and biographer. His acidly humorous books include Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956) and The Old Men at the Zoo (1961). In his detailed portrayal of English...

Wilson, Cairine Reay Mackay
(1885-1962) Canadian Liberal politician. Wilson was appointed as the country's first woman senator in 1930 by Prime Minister King only four months after the ruling in the `Persons Case`, which qualified...

Wilson, Charles E(rwin)
(1890-1961) US automobile executive and cabinet member. Born in Minerva, Ohio, he trained as an electrical engineer and designed automobile products for Westinghouse (1912-21), then became president of Delco...

Wilson, Edith
(1872-1961) US first lady. The second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. Born in Wytherville, Virginia, she was the widow of a Washington jeweller when she met and married the widower Woodrow Wilson in 1915....

Wilson, Edmund
(1895-1972) US critic and writer. Perhaps the foremost American social and literary critic of the 20th century, he was an editor of Vanity Fair 1920-21, the New Republic 1926-31, and The New Yorker...

Wilson, Gill (Robb)
(1893-1966) US aviator and journalist. Born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, he was Presbyterian minister as well as an early private pilot. He advocated military preparedness and became New Jersey's director...

Wilson, Halsey William
(1868-1954) US bibliographer and publisher. He published standard works in book indexes. As the owner of a Minneapolis bookstore he compiled and in 1898 began publishing the Cumulative Book Index, which...

Wilson, Henry
(1812-1875) US vice-president and abolitionist. He devoted his life to abolishing slavery after a trip to Virginia in 1836 exposed him to it, frequently changing political affiliations until he found a party,...

Wilson, Henry Hughes
(1864-1922) British soldier. He had a mixed career in World War I; following an uninspiring performance during the retreat from Mons 1914 he was given a liaison post with the French HQ. He was dismissed from...

Wilson, Henry Maitland
(1881-1964) British field marshal in World War II. He was commander-in-chief in Egypt in 1939, led the unsuccessful Greek campaign of 1941, was commander-in-chief in the Middle East in 1943, and in 1944...

Wilson, Jacqueline
(1945) English writer. One of the most popular authors of children's fiction in the UK, she writes about ordinary children and the modern-day challenges they face, revealing a sensitive understanding of...

Wilson, James
(1742-1798) US lawyer, political thinker, and Supreme Court justice. He was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and was a central figure at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 where he argued...

Wilson, James Harrison
(1837-1925) US soldier. Born near Shawneetown, Illinois, as a hard-hitting Union cavalry commander he defeated Nathan Forrest at Franklin, Tennessee in 1864. A detachment of his command captured Jefferson...

Wilson, James Q(uinn)
(1931) US sociologist and criminologist. He became identified as a neoconservative social scientist in his works on criminals and the police, including Varieties of Police Behavior (1968) and Thinking...

Wilson, John
(1804-1875) Scottish missionary and oriental scholar who played a leading role in promoting social reform in India. He campaigned successfully for the abolition...

Wilson, John
(1785-1854) Scottish poet and essayist. He used the pseudonym Christopher North. His `Noctes Ambrosianae` 1822-35 form a series of dramatic dialogues on various topics. Prose fiction includes Lights and...

Wilson, John Dover
(1881-1969) English Shakespearean scholar. He was joint editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare series 1921-66, and his works include Life in Shakespeare's England 1911, The Essential Shakespeare 1932, What...

Wilson, Orlando W
(1900-1972) US criminologist and educator. Born in Veblen, South Dakota, he was police chief of Fullerton, California (1925-56) and Wichita, Kansas (1928-39) and superintendent of police in Chicago,...

Wilson, Richard
(1936) Scottish actor who became famous in the 1990s for his portrayal of the grumpy pensioner Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Prior to that he had a long theatrical career and also...

Wilson, Richard
(1714-1782) Welsh painter. His landscapes, infused with an Italianate atmosphere, are painted in a classical manner reminiscent of Claude Lorrain. His work influenced the development of English landscape...

Wilson, Samuel
(1766-1854) US meat packer. Wilson was the original `Uncle Sam`. Born in West Cambridge (now Arlington), Massachusetts, he was a Revolutionary War veteran. He started a meatpacking plant in Troy, New York....

Wilton Diptych
Portrait of Richard II of England about 1395 (National Gallery, London). It shows Richard II presented to the Virgin and Child by his patron saints. An example of the International Gothic style, it...

Wilton, Marie
English theatre manager, in partnership with Squire Bancroft. ...

Winant, John G(ilbert)
(1889-1947) US governor and government official. Although a Republican, he was sympathetic to labour, and President Franklin Roosevelt got him appointed to the International Labour Organization (ICO) in Geneva...

Winchester Cathedral
Cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England, begun in 1079 by Bishop Walkelin. Of his Norman building, only the crypt, transepts, crossing tower, and some of the hidden structure of the nave remain....

Winchester, Battle of
In English history, defeat 14 September 1141 of Matilda's forces, which were besieging the episcopal residence of Wolvesey Castle, by a royalist relief force. Her forces were themselves besieged,...

Winchilsea, Anne Finch, Countess of
(1661-1720) English poet. She wrote Pindaric odes and was a pioneer in nature poetry. Her only published volume was Miscellany Poems 1713. Her best-known poem is `The Spleen`, published 1701 in an...

Wind in the Willows, The
Fantasy for children by Scottish author Kenneth Grahame (1908). The story relates the adventures of a group of humanlike animals - Rat, Mole, Badger, and...

windfall tax
One-off levy, introduced in 1997 by the UK Labour government, on the excess profits earned by 33 UK utilities privatized by public flotation since 1983, and regulated by statute. The tax was...

Windham, William
(1750-1810) English politician who served as secretary of state for war under William Pitt the Younger (1794-1801), and in Grenville's `All the Talents` administration of 1806-07. He was an adept...

Windmill Hill
Neolithic (New Stone Age) defensive earthwork or causewayed camp, with interrupted ditches, 2.5 km/1.5 mi northwest of Avebury, Wiltshire, England. The Windmill Hill culture is the earliest of the...

Windmill Theatre
Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London. It opened in 1931 in what was the Palais de Luxe Cinema, converted by English architect F Edward Jones. The theatre featured nonstop variety 1932-64....

Windom, William
(1827-1891) US Republican politician. Born in Belmont, Ohio, he was a lawyer before going to the US House of Representatives as member for Minnesota (1859-69). He went mid-term to the Senate (1870-83). He...

window tax
Tax on windows imposed in England 1696, replacing hearth tax. Scotland was exempt under terms of the Union 1707. Houses with fewer than seven (later eight) windows were exempted 1792, but this led...

Windsor Castle
British royal residence in Windsor, founded by William the Conqueror on the site of an earlier fortress. It includes the Perpendicular Gothic St George's Chapel and the Albert Memorial Chapel,...

Windsor, Duchess of
Title of Wallis Warfield Simpson. ...

Windsor, Duke of
Title of Edward VIII. ...

Windsor, House of
Official name of the British royal family since 1917, adopted in place of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Since 1960 those descendants of Elizabeth II not entitled to the prefix HRH (His/Her Royal Highness)...

Wingate, Orde Charles
(1903-1944) British soldier. In 1936 he established a reputation for unorthodox tactics in Palestine. In World War II he served in the Middle East and organized guerrilla forces in Ethiopia, and later led the...

Wingti, Paias
(1951) Papua New Guinea centrist politician, prime minister 1985-88 and 1992-94. He became prime minister in November 1985 at the head of a five-party coalition. He championed Melanesian interests in...

Winnie-the-Pooh
Collection of children's stories by English author A A Milne, published in 1926, illustrated by E H Shepard. The stories feature the author's son Christopher Robin, his teddy bear...

Winslow, Edward
(1595-1655) Pilgrim leader and author. Born in Droitwich, England, he negotiated with Indians on behalf of the Plymouth colony and was the governor for three terms (1633, 1636, 1644). His accounts of the...

Winsor, Justin
(1831-1897) US historian and librarian. As a historian, he wrote such groundbreaking works as The Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution (1880), A Narrative and Critical History of America (1884-89),...

Winstanley, Gerrard
(c. 1609-c. 1660) English radical. In outspoken pamphlets like The Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652), he attacked kings, landlords, merchants, and priests, and outlined an ideal communist society. Believing that...

Winstone, Ray Andrew
(1957) English actor. After appearing on television during the 1980s and early 1990s, often as hard, working-class characters, he gained international acclaim for his portrayal of a brutal alcoholic in...

Winter King, the
Name given to Frederick V because he was king of Bohemia for one winter (1619-20). ...

winter of discontent
The winter of 1978-79 in Britain, marked by a series of strikes that contributed to the defeat of the Labour government in the general election of spring 1979. The phrase is from Shakespeare's...

Winter War
The USSR's invasion of Finland 30 November 1939-12 March 1940, also called the Russo-Finnish War. The USSR set up a Finnish puppet government in eastern Karelia, but their invasion forces were...

Winter, William Forrest
(1923) US governor and lawyer Born in Grenada, Mississippi, he trained as a lawyer, then served in the Mississippi house of representatives as a Democrat (1948-56), becoming state treasurer in 1964 and...

Winterhalter, Franz Xavier
(1805-1873) German portrait painter. He became court painter to Grand Duke Leopold in Karlsruhe, then moved to Paris 1834 and enjoyed the patronage of European royalty, including Empress Eugénie, Queen...

Winters, (Arthur) Yvor
(1900-1968) US poet and literary critic. A controversial critic, he attacked popular literary icons ranging from Walt Whitman to Henry James. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he taught at Stanford University...

Winterson, Jeanette
(1959) English novelist. Her autobiographical first novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985, televised 1990), humorously draws on her experiences growing up as an Evangelical Pentecostalist in...

Winthrop, John
(1638-1707) US soldier and colonial governor. Born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of colonial governors, he commanded Connecticut militia against the Dutch in 1673 and the French in 1690 and...

Winthrop, John
(1588-1649) American colonist and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A devout Puritan and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Company 1628, he served as Massachusetts...

Winthrop, John, Jr
(1605-1676) Colonial governor. Born in Groton, Suffolk, England, he served as governor of Connecticut (1657-58, 1659-76) and obtained a liberal charter for Connecticut in 1662. His scientific interests -...

Wirt, William
(1772-1834) US lawyer, cabinet officer, and author. As US attorney general (1817-29) under presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams he argued landmark cases. He was the reluctant presidential candidate...

Wise, Henry Alexander
(1806-1876) US representative. Born in Drummondtown, Virginia, he was a lawyer in Virginia, then served as a Jacksonian, Whig, and Democratic member of the US House of Representatives (1833-44), resigning to...

Wise, Isaac Mayer
(1819-1900) Bohemian rabbi. As rabbi of Orthodox congregations in Albany, New York, and Cincinnati, Ohio, he changed them into Reform synagogues, and soon became the preeminent leader of Reform Judaism in the...

Wise, Stephen Samuel
(1874-1949) Hungarian-born US religious leader. Ordained as a reform rabbi 1893, he served congregations in New York City 1893-1900 and Portland, Oregon, 1900-07, after which he became rabbi of the Free...

Wise, Thomas James
(1859-1937) British bibliographer. He collected the Ashley Library of first editions, chiefly English poets and dramatists 1890-1930, acquired by the British Museum at his death, and made many forgeries of...

Wiseman, Nicholas Patrick Stephen
(1802-1865) British Catholic priest who became the first archbishop of Westminster n 1850. ...

Wishart, George
(c. 1513-1546) Scottish Protestant reformer burned for heresy, who probably converted John Knox. ...

Wissler, Clark(son Davis)
(1870-1947) US anthropologist. He wrote a landmark text, The American Indian (1917), popularized anthropology as an academic discipline, and formulated the concept of North American `culture areas` and the...

Witan
Council of the Anglo-Saxon kings, the forerunner of Parliament, but including only royal household officials, great landowners, and top churchmen. ...

witch doctor
Alternative name for a shaman. ...

witch-hunt
Persecution of minority political opponents or socially nonconformist groups without any regard for their guilt or innocence. Witch-hunts are often accompanied by a degree of public hysteria; for...

witchcraft
The alleged possession and exercise of magical powers -black magic if used with evil intent, and white magic if benign. Its origins lie in traditional beliefs and religions. Supposed practitioners...

withdrawal
In a military action, an orderly movement of forces in a rearward direction in order to occupy more favourable ground. It is voluntary and controlled, unlike a retreat. British forces withdrew to El...

Wither, George
(1588-1667) English poet. In 1613 he published a collection of bold satires, Abuses Stript and Whipt, for which he was imprisoned. While in prison he wrote The Shepheard's Hunting 1615, a pastoral. The...

Withers, Frederick C(larke)
(1828-1901) British architect. His wide New York practice was identified with ecclesiastical and institutional architecture and the High Victorian Gothic style. Born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England, in...

Witherspoon, (Laura Jeanne) Reese
(1976) US actor. Known both for her wholesome beauty and talent, particularly in comic roles, she began acting and modelling as a child, appearing in her first television commercial at the age of seven....

Witherspoon, John
(1723-1794) British protestant clergyman and member of the Continental Congress. A firm supporter of the colonies in the dispute with Britain, he was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence....

withholding tax
Personal income tax paid on wages, salaries, dividends, or other income received by a non-resident of a country. Withholding tax is deducted at source to ensure that the income does not leave the...

Witkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy
(1885-1939) Polish dramatist and novelist. His surrealist plays only became widely known after World War II: these include The Water Hen (1921), The Crazy Locomotive (1923), The Madman and...

witness
In law, a person who was present at some event (such as an accident, a crime, or the signing of a document) or has relevant special knowledge (such as a medical expert) and can be called on to give...

Witte, Emmanuel de
(1617-1692) Dutch painter. He specialized in views of church interiors. His large, airy compositions reach a high point of architectural painting, the creamy interiors often relieved by dark figure groups and...

Witte, Sergei Yulevich, Count
(1849-1915) Russian politician, prime minister of Russia 1903-06. As minister of transport (1892) and finance (1892-1903), he developed the railway network (including the vast Trans-Siberian Railway,...

Wittelsbach
Bavarian dynasty, who ruled Bavaria as dukes from 1180, electors from 1623, and kings 1806-1918. ...

Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann
(1889-1951) Austrian philosopher. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) postulated the `picture theory` of language: that words represent things according to social agreement. He subsequently rejected...

Wittkower, Rudolf
(1901-1971) German architectural historian. His major scholarly contributions included his explication of religious symbolism in Renaissance architecture in Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism...

Witz, Konrad
(c. 1400-c. 1445) German-born Swiss painter. His sharply observed realism suggests that he was familiar with the work of contemporary Flemish artists such as Jan van Witzleben, Erwin von
(1881-1944) German field marshal in World War II. He commanded the 1st German Army in France 1940 and became commander-in-chief in the West May 1941 but retired for health reasons 1942. He had long been...

Woburn Abbey
House in Bedfordshire, England, 12 km/7 mi southeast of Milton Keynes. The present building contains an altered 17th-century wing but is otherwise of the 18th century, its main west range...

Wodehouse, P(elham) G(renville)
(1881-1975) English novelist. He became a US citizen in 1955. His humorous novels and stories portray the accident-prone world of such characters as the socialite Bertie Wooster and his invaluable and...

Woden
The foremost Anglo-Saxon god, whose Norse counterpart is Odin. ...

Woestijne, Karel van de
(1878-1929) Flemish poet. He was influenced by the French Symbolist movement, especially in his early works. His autobiographical volumes of baroque and sometimes decadent poetry include Het Vader-Huis 1903,...

Wogan, Terry
(1938) Irish presenter and radio disc jockey who after a long stint as the breakfast-show presenter on BBC's Radio 2 in the 1970s, became British TV's leading chat show host in the 1980s. Starting with...

Wolcot, John
(1738-1819) English satirist. Under the pseudonym Peter Pindar, he wrote satires and lampoons on politics and society and their prominent figures. ...