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Waynflete, William

(Encyclopedia)Waynflete, William wānˈflēt [key], 1395?–1486, English prelate and lord chancellor. He was master of Winchester College before 1429, and in 1443 he became provost of the newly founded Eton Colleg...

Weatherford, William

(Encyclopedia)Weatherford, William, c.1780–1824, Native American chief, b. present-day Alabama, also called Red Eagle. In the War of 1812 he led the Creek war party, stirred by Tecumseh, against the Americans. On...

Bentley, William

(Encyclopedia)Bentley, William, 1759–1819, American Unitarian clergyman, b. Boston. From 1783 until his death he was pastor of East Church, Salem, Mass. His Diary (4 vol., 1905–14), covering the years 1784–18...

White, William

(Encyclopedia)White, William, 1748–1836, American Episcopal bishop, b. Philadelphia, grad. College of Philadelphia (now Univ. of Pennsylvania), 1765. He was ordained in England in 1772, returning to become assist...

Whitehead, William

(Encyclopedia)Whitehead, William, 1715–85, English poet and playwright. He wrote several plays based on ancient Greek models, including Creusa, Queen of Athens (1754). Whitehead was appointed poet laureate in 175...

Wilberforce, William

(Encyclopedia)Wilberforce, William, 1759–1833, British politician and humanitarian. He was elected to Parliament in 1780 and during the campaign formed a lifelong friendship with William Pitt, whose measures he g...

Winter, William

(Encyclopedia)Winter, William, 1836–1917, American drama critic, biographer, and poet, b. Gloucester, Mass., grad. Harvard Law School, 1857. A member of the literary bohemians who met in Pfaff's Cellar in New Yor...

Wirt, William

(Encyclopedia)Wirt, William wûrt [key], 1772–1834, U.S. Attorney General and author, b. Bladensburg, Md. He had little formal schooling but was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1792. His first book was an anonymo...

Whipple, William

(Encyclopedia)Whipple, William, 1730–85, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Kittery, Maine. Whipple, who had been a sea captain, was a merchant of Portsmout...

Whiston, William

(Encyclopedia)Whiston, William, 1667–1752, English clergyman and mathematician. He won favor through his New Theory of the Earth (1696) and in 1701 was made deputy to Sir Isaac Newton, whom he succeeded (1703) as...
 

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