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22384d638bfaaf4236725addee26fc65 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Adams | William Adams | William Adams
William Adams, also called Anjin or Miura Anjin, (born 1564, Gillingham, Kent, England—died May 26, 1620, Hirado, Japan), navigator, merchant-adventurer, and the first Englishman to visit Japan.
At the age of 12 Adams was apprenticed to a shipbuilder in the merchant marine, and in 1588 he was master of a... |
f720b98620528183698c459f053de444 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Alanson-White | William Alanson White | William Alanson White
…the influence of the psychiatrist William Alanson White, who extended the principles of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis to the severely ill, hospitalized psychotic, rather than restricting them to the more functional neurotics treated by most Freudian analysts of the time. In his interviews with s... |
bf9001e421f58acbecf2406a6eec4442 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Alexander-Craigie | Sir William Alexander Craigie | Sir William Alexander Craigie
Sir William Alexander Craigie, (born Aug. 13, 1867, Dundee, Angus, Scot.—died Sept. 2, 1957, Watlington, Oxfordshire, Eng.), Scottish lexicographer and language and literature scholar who was joint editor (1901–33) of The Oxford English Dictionary and chief editor (1923–36) of the four-vo... |
9932b70b4acad1e0d992e211360717db | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ames | William Ames | William Ames
William Ames, (born 1576, Ipswich, Suffolk, Eng.—died Nov. 14, 1633, Rotterdam), English Puritan theologian remembered for his writings on ethics and for debating and writing in favour of strict Calvinism in opposition to Arminianism.
As a student at Cambridge, Ames viewed cardplaying as an offense to Ch... |
926e0dec6030daeb60bce0ba99d269e0 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Arnold-Anthony | William Arnold Anthony | William Arnold Anthony
William Arnold Anthony, (born Nov. 17, 1835, Coventry, R.I., U.S.—died May 29, 1908, New York, N.Y.), physicist and pioneer in the teaching of electrical engineering in the United States.
After studying at Brown (Providence, R.I.) and Yale universities, Anthony taught physics and chemistry at A... |
f511dec322f4aae3203ece01627cafee | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Avery-Bishop | William Avery Bishop | William Avery Bishop
William Avery Bishop, byname Billy Bishop, (born Feb. 8, 1894, Owen Sound, Ont., Can.—died Sept. 11, 1956, West Palm Beach, Fla., U.S.), Canadian fighter ace who shot down 72 German aircraft during World War I.
Bishop was educated at the Royal Military College, Kingston, and went overseas during W... |
ad468bf53e9d5d2e0456c725e8fda007 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Bainbridge | William Bainbridge | William Bainbridge
William Bainbridge, (born May 7, 1774, Princeton, N.J.—died July 27, 1833, Philadelphia), American naval officer who captured the British frigate Java in the War of 1812.
Bainbridge commanded merchant vessels from 1793 to 1798, when he became an officer in the newly organized U.S. Navy. He served i... |
fc570a118e84fe653e6a35400f3aec2c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Barker-Canadian-fighter-pilot | William Barker | William Barker
William Barker, in full William George Barker, (born November 3, 1894, Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada—died March 12, 1930, Rockcliffe, Ottawa, Ontario), Canadian World War I fighter pilot who was the most-decorated war hero in Canadian history.
The eldest son of a farmer who was also a blacksmith and sawmil... |
3fac3a6272f32e458558c4efa809214c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Barnes | William Barnes | William Barnes
William Barnes, (born Feb. 22, 1801, Bagber, near Sturminster Newton, Dorsetshire, Eng.—died Oct. 7, 1886, Winterbourne Came, Dorsetshire), English dialect poet whose work gives a vivid picture of the life and labour of rural southwestern England and includes some moving expressions of loss and grief, ... |
32b88779a989cd9e9c7964756f81ac10 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Beaumont | William Beaumont | William Beaumont
William Beaumont, (born Nov. 21, 1785, Lebanon, Conn., U.S.—died April 25, 1853, St. Louis, Mo.), U.S. army surgeon, the first person to observe and study human digestion as it occurs in the stomach.
On June 6, 1822, while serving at Fort Mackinac (now in Michigan), Beaumont was summoned to Michilima... |
f77d0d332d73f75dfe8c9c1cd9b33dee | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blake/Blake-as-a-poet | Blake as a poet | Blake as a poet
Blake’s profession was engraving, and his principal avocation was painting in watercolours. But even from boyhood he wrote poetry. In the early 1780s he attended the literary and artistic salons of the bluestocking Harriet Mathew, and there he read and sang his poems. According to Blake’s friend John Th... |
e86afae5abf0eac5f45228bc82c73838 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blake/Career-as-engraver | Career as engraver | Career as engraver
On the completion of his apprenticeship in 1779, Blake began to work vigorously as an independent engraver. His most frequent commissions were from the great liberal bookseller Joseph Johnson. At first most of his work was copy engraving after the designs of other artists, such as the two fashion pla... |
7053dde56258b2a294262d06f0cb4559 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Bourne | William Bourne | William Bourne
…1578 from the pen of William Bourne, a British mathematician and writer on naval subjects. Bourne proposed a completely enclosed boat that could be submerged and rowed underwater. It consisted of a wooden frame covered with waterproof leather; it was to be submerged by reducing its volume by contracting... |
c2b1ec0374c6dd6dbc4e4b21d6ad978c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-C-Whitney | William C. Whitney | William C. Whitney
William C. Whitney, in full William Collins Whitney, (born July 5, 1841, Conway, Mass., U.S.—died Feb. 2, 1904, New York, N.Y.), U.S. secretary of the navy (1885–89) who played a major role in the post-Civil War rebuilding of the navy.
Admitted to the bar in 1865, Whitney practiced law in New York C... |
d840ac3650de60c183d05fa433102498 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Campbell-Irish-born-American-parasitologist | William Campbell | William Campbell
William Campbell, (born June 28, 1930, Ramelton, Ireland), Irish-born American parasitologist known for his contribution to the discovery of the anthelmintic compounds avermectin and ivermectin, which proved vital to the control of certain parasitic infections in humans and other animals. For his disc... |
7aca90823e60608e67cbb0821f8f7ae0 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Castle | William Castle | William Castle
William Castle, original name William Schloss, (born April 24, 1914, New York City, New York, U.S.—died May 31, 1977, Los Angeles, California), American director who was known for the innovative marketing techniques he used to promote his B-horror movies.
He began his entertainment career as an actor in... |
6d59b501b6d1e79d9e99e8a157a9c997 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Claire-Menninger | William Claire Menninger | William Claire Menninger
…1924 Charles Menninger’s youngest son, William Claire Menninger (born October 15, 1899, Topeka—died September 6, 1966, Topeka), received an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and served his internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. The following year he joined the family prac... |
aa05f319e651a7224c0c5c7b2dd35bb7 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Clito | William Clito | William Clito
William Clito, French Guillaume Cliton, (born c. 1101—died July 28, 1128, Aalst, Flanders [now in Belgium]), count of Flanders and titular duke of Normandy (as William IV, or as William III if England’s William Rufus’ earlier claim to the duchy is not acknowledged).
Son of Duke Robert II Curthose (and g... |
921572ea0326f0f5c26287d9ae160152 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Cornelius-Van-Horne | Sir William Cornelius Van Horne | Sir William Cornelius Van Horne
Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (born February 3, 1843, near Joliet, Illinois, U.S.—died September 11, 1915, Montreal, Canada), American-born Canadian railway official who directed the construction of Canada’s first transcontinental railroad.
Van Horne worked as a telegraph operator on... |
24be6d29170da3f14ba40623a0ea0294 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Crapo-Durant | William Crapo Durant | William Crapo Durant
William Crapo Durant, (born Dec. 8, 1861, Boston—died March 18, 1947, New York City), American industrialist and founder of General Motors Corporation, which later became one of the largest corporations in the world in terms of sales.
After establishing a carriage company in Michigan in 1886, Dura... |
e6052144c2519997f0f18bb03ecb9146 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Crookes | Sir William Crookes | Sir William Crookes
Sir William Crookes, (born June 17, 1832, London, Eng.—died April 4, 1919, London), British chemist and physicist noted for his discovery of the element thallium and for his cathode-ray studies, fundamental in the development of atomic physics.
After studying at the Royal College of Chemistry, Lo... |
61ebefd176dc754649b8441ecebb9a10 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-D-P-Bliss | William D.P. Bliss | William D.P. Bliss
William D.P. Bliss, in full William Dwight Porter Bliss, (born August 20, 1856, Constantinople [now Istanbul]—died October 8, 1926, New York City, New York, U.S.), American social reformer and organizer of Christian Socialist societies.
The son of American missionaries in Turkey, Bliss was educated ... |
918f8e0bca1f447ca1faea31f204890b | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Daniel-Leahy | William Daniel Leahy | William Daniel Leahy
William Daniel Leahy, (born May 6, 1875, Hampton, Iowa, U.S.—died July 20, 1959, Bethesda, Maryland), American naval officer who served as personal chief of staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.
Leahy graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in... |
947c69ee81031ccfcb955cefd9c46fa0 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-de-Hauteville | William de Hauteville | William de Hauteville
William de Hauteville, byname William Iron Arm, Italian Guglielmo d’Altavilla or Guglielmo Braccio-di-Ferro, French Guillaume de Hauteville or Guillaume Bras de Fer, (born, Hauteville-la-Guichard, Normandy [France]—died 1046), Norman adventurer, the eldest of 12 Hauteville brothers, a soldier of... |
f688160d6affba523450b92743e8feae | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-de-la-Mare | William De La Mare | William De La Mare
William De La Mare, (born, England—died c. 1290), English philosopher and theologian, advocate of the traditional Neoplatonic-Augustinian school of Christian philosophy, and leading critic of the Aristotelian thought introduced by Thomas Aquinas.
A member of the Franciscan order, William became a ma... |
cfd5fbd4e7ef6b173dadd5e940ddc7f5 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Dieterle | William Dieterle | William Dieterle
William Dieterle, original name Wilhelm Dieterle, (born July 15, 1893, Ludwigshafen, Germany—died December 8, 1972, Ottobrunn), German-born filmmaker who directed a diverse range of movies but was perhaps best known for a series of acclaimed biopics, one of which won the Warner Brothers studio its fir... |
415460a399038dcf461c1fd765f4dd1f | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Diller-Matthew | William Diller Matthew | William Diller Matthew
William Diller Matthew, (born Feb. 19, 1871, Saint John, N.B., Can.—died Sept. 24, 1930, San Francisco), Canadian-American paleontologist who was an important contributor to modern knowledge of mammalian evolution.
From 1895 to 1927 Matthew worked in the department of vertebrate paleontology at... |
925945add65df5eae4e9e072f3814bfe | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-duke-of-Gelderland | William | William
…expedition in August 1388 against Duke William of Gelderland; Charles, however, made a speedy peace with William and returned to France.
…development, partly because the powerful Duke William (ruled 1379–1402) of that principality had his own financial resources as a result of his military activities in the se... |
cad6763d26dd63d179c8e4142cd37f29 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Dwight-Whitney | William Dwight Whitney | William Dwight Whitney
William Dwight Whitney, (born Feb. 9, 1827, Northampton, Mass., U.S.—died June 7, 1894, New Haven, Conn.), American linguist and one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars of his time, noted especially for his classic work, Sanskrit Grammar (1879).
As a professor of Sanskrit (1854–94) and comparativ... |
8f01e1c0204fd06a5c5bf400ac22dc6f | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-E-Borah | William E. Borah | William E. Borah
William E. Borah, in full William Edgar Borah, (born June 29, 1865, Fairfield, Ill., U.S.—died Jan. 19, 1940, Washington, D.C.), Republican U.S. senator from Idaho for 33 years, best known for his major role at the end of World War I (1918) in preventing the United States from joining the League of N... |
b5ff7eef540012dccfdd321cf3be7366 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Edmondstoune-Aytoun | William Edmondstoune Aytoun | William Edmondstoune Aytoun
William Edmondstoune Aytoun, (born June 21, 1813, Edinburgh, Scot.—died Aug. 4, 1865, Elgin, Moray), poet famous for parodies and light verse that greatly influenced the style of later Scottish humorous satire.
Born into a literary family, Aytoun learned from his mother to love Scottish ba... |
7d944bd9ad96469d663533802a66e2bc | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ellery-Channing | William Ellery Channing | William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing, (born April 7, 1780, Newport, R.I.—died Oct. 2, 1842, Bennington, Vt., U.S.), U.S. author and moralist, Congregationalist and, later, Unitarian clergyman. Known as the “apostle of Unitarianism,” Channing was a leading figure in the development of New England Transcenden... |
1035a7bfb2faaba492c8480835020962 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-F-Halsey-Jr | William F. Halsey, Jr. | William F. Halsey, Jr.
William F. Halsey, Jr., in full William Frederick Halsey, Jr., byname Bull Halsey, (born Oct. 30, 1882, Elizabeth, N.J., U.S.—died Aug. 16, 1959, Fishers Island, N.Y.), U.S. naval commander who led vigorous campaigns in the Pacific theatre during World War II. He was a leading exponent of warfa... |
3fd6da592456609f04b02d2ea51d1bc0 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Ferguson-Massey | William Ferguson Massey | William Ferguson Massey
William Ferguson Massey, (born March 26, 1856, Limavady, County Londonderry, Ire.—died May 10, 1925, Wellington, N.Z.), New Zealand statesman, prime minister (1912–25), lifelong spokesman for agrarian interests, and opponent of left-wing movements. His Reform Party ministries included leadersh... |
530ba40b671731f51914c114e710ac63 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Forsythe | William Forsythe | William Forsythe
William Forsythe, (born December 30, 1949, New York, New York, U.S.), American choreographer who staged audaciously groundbreaking contemporary dance performances during his long association with the Frankfurt Ballet and later with his own troupe, the Forsythe Company. His body of work, which displaye... |
2f51aaedb16ed4d52a6759ead07cb20c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-George-Horner | William George Horner | William George Horner
William George Horner, (born 1786, near Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.—died Sept. 22, 1837, Grosvenor Place, Bath, Somerset), mathematician whose name is attached to Horner’s method, a means of continuous approximation to determine the solutions of algebraic equations of any degree.
Horner became... |
a40e0090df0747c6b50199ce3f11a945 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-George-Ward | William George Ward | William George Ward
William George Ward, (born March 21, 1812, London, Eng.—died July 6, 1882, London), English author and theologian, one of the leaders of the Oxford movement, which sought to revive in Anglicanism the High Church ideals of the later 17th-century church. He eventually became a convert to Roman Catho... |
b0e2485c92ed84022a60b82fbabe3f8e | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Gilbert | William Gilbert | William Gilbert
William Gilbert, Gilbert also spelled Gylberde, (born May 24, 1544, Colchester, Essex, England—died November 30 [December 10, New Style], 1603, London?), pioneer researcher into magnetism who became the most distinguished man of science in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Educated as a ph... |
58ab09058b1297fbc1c07302692a8b6a | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Gilmore-Simms | William Gilmore Simms | William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms, (born April 17, 1806, Charleston, S.C., U.S.—died June 11, 1870, Charleston), outstanding Southern novelist.
Motherless at two, Simms was reared by his grandmother while his father fought in the Creek wars and under Jackson at New Orleans in 1814. Simms lived a vicariousl... |
9b24b5499d7a8bd8c9f5b22e9826d142 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Graham-Sumner | William Graham Sumner | William Graham Sumner
William Graham Sumner, (born Oct. 30, 1840, Paterson, N.J., U.S.—died April 12, 1910, Englewood, N.J.), U.S. sociologist and economist, prolific publicist of Social Darwinism.
Like the British philosopher Herbert Spencer, Sumner, who taught at Yale from 1872 to 1909, expounded in many essays his... |
4bdbd81e3e673c9dbc76ab0808cdff56 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-H-Barlow | William H. Barlow | William H. Barlow
Pancras, London (1864–68, by William H. Barlow), where the wrought-iron arches have a span of 243 feet (74 metres) and rise to a height of 100 feet (30 metres).
|
c9bcaaf2156a16b78f82fc66abaadae2 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-H-Woodward | William H. Woodward | William H. Woodward
The trustees then sued William H. Woodward, college secretary and ally of Wheelock, but lost in the state courts.
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79d12e1578f2f2032031154d8d665bb8 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Henry-Harrison/Political-career | Political career | Political career
After the war, Harrison settled in Ohio, where he quickly became active in politics. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1816–19), where he worked on behalf of more liberal pension laws, better militia organization, and improvements in the navigation of the Ohio River and for the strict con... |
13728156d88be33ab488e6e7c963f201 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Henry-Waddington | William Henry Waddington | William Henry Waddington
William Henry Waddington, (born Dec. 11, 1826, Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre, France—died Jan. 12, 1894, Paris), French scholar, diplomat, and politician. His appointment as French premier by the moderate Republicans, largely because of his cautious and colourless personality, marked the beginning of a... |
3ce6e8459f17f6ca7e66b0099adc1351 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Hesketh-Lever-1st-Viscount-Leverhulme | William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme | William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, (born Sept. 19, 1851, Bolton, Lancashire, Eng.—died May 7, 1925, Hampstead, London), British soap and detergent entrepreneur who built the international firm of Lever Brothers.
Lever entered the soap business in 1885, when ... |
abca15a7d1ecd721a5f2f97e5200bc6b | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Hewlett | William Hewlett | William Hewlett
William Hewlett, in full William Redington Hewlett, (born May 20, 1913, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.—died January 12, 2001, Palo Alto, California), American engineer and businessman who was the cofounder of the electronics and computer corporation Hewlett-Packard Company (HP).
Hewlett’s interest in scienc... |
96f409d82de8f3e40771b3268eff0c4a | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-elector-of-Hesse-Kassel | William I | William I
The elector William I (reigned 1785–1821) pursued a policy of neutrality toward Napoleon, who nevertheless occupied Hesse-Kassel after the Battle of Jena (1806) and in 1807 united it with the Kingdom of Westphalia. In 1815 Hesse-Kassel regained its independence, but the elector William I and his successor…
|
0c1cb7b636ba7c529a3899e00d75b5be | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-emperor-of-Germany | William I | William I
William I, German in full Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig, (born March 22, 1797, Berlin—died March 9, 1888, Berlin), German emperor from 1871, as well as king of Prussia from 1861, a sovereign whose conscientiousness and self-restraint fitted him for collaboration with stronger statesmen in raising his monarchy and... |
674d86a1bafd4f8fec013748d6b02fa7 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-king-of-England | William I | William I
William I, byname William the Conqueror or William the Bastard or William of Normandy, French Guillaume le Conquérant or Guillaume le Bâtard or Guillaume de Normandie, (born c. 1028, Falaise, Normandy [France]—died September 9, 1087, Rouen), duke of Normandy (as William II) from 1035 and king of England (as ... |
e11bb99961639c77828e277ff935dab2 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-king-of-England/Death | Death | Death
William was taken to the priory of St. Gervais just outside Rouen, where he lay dying for five weeks. He had the assistance of some of his bishops and doctors, and in attendance were his half brother Robert, count of Mortain, and his younger sons, William Rufus and Henry. Robert Curthose was with the king of Fran... |
fb3c23716020e27e940816218dcd175e | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-king-of-England/New-alliances | New alliances | New alliances
After 1047 William began to participate in events outside his duchy. In support of King Henry and in an attempt to strengthen his southern frontier and expand into the western county of Maine, he fought a series of campaigns against Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou. But from 1052, when Henry and Geoffrey m... |
ebae255372ab4fce7538eaa3fc81275c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-king-of-England/The-Battle-of-Hastings | The Battle of Hastings | The Battle of Hastings
By August William had gathered his army and his fleet at the mouth of the Dives River. At this point he probably intended to sail due north and invade England by way of the Isle of Wight and Southampton Water. But adverse winds held up his fleet, and in September a westerly gale drove his ships u... |
ff61be44bf83c52189d49f327e612038 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-stadholder-of-United-Provinces-of-The-Netherlands | William I | William I
William I, in full William, prince of Orange, count of Nassau, byname William the Silent, Dutch Willem, prins van Oranje, graaf van Nassau, or Willem de Zwijger, (born April 24, 1533, Dillenburg, Nassau—died July 10, 1584, Delft, Holland), first of the hereditary stadtholders (1572–84) of the United Provinc... |
b9f7c10a7f16b30f5f7ade3c809d7db8 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-stadholder-of-United-Provinces-of-The-Netherlands/Open-revolt-and-alliance-with-Calvinism | Open revolt and alliance with Calvinism | Open revolt and alliance with Calvinism
By May 1567 order was everywhere restored. Nevertheless, in August Alba entered Brussels at the head of a well-trained army and inaugurated a reign of terror. In September a special court, the Council of Troubles, was set up to try all cases of rebellion and heresy, and more than... |
1009cd75fb81f25ece1c66cea94e1966 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-stadholder-of-United-Provinces-of-The-Netherlands/The-Princes-triumph | The Prince’s triumph | The Prince’s triumph
A temporary collapse of Spanish power in the Low Countries in 1576 gave the Prince a fresh chance. In the absence of a governor-general after the death of Alba’s successor, Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga, and confronted with mutinous Spanish troops, the Council of State ventured to convene the States G... |
83dbb2c1e260a78a8a91eb5797f1030c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-I-the-Pious | William I the Pious | William I the Pious
…of the 9th century by William I (the Pious), count of Auvergne and the founder of the abbey of Cluny. In the first half of the 10th century the counts of Auvergne, of Toulouse, and of Poitiers each claimed this ducal title, but it was eventually secured by another William…
…century, it was reconsti... |
9b3cde1e1d941ad22d1d6d7c571580b7 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-II-count-of-Holland | William II | William II
Count William II built a castle there in 1248, around which several buildings came to be clustered, and these became the principal residence of the counts of Holland. These buildings now form the Binnenhof (“Inner Courtyard”) in the old quarter of the city. Among the great…
William II, count of Holland from ... |
0028ba21aa8f1f863dd5ad605b4df6aa | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-II-elector-of-Hesse-Kassel | William II | William II
…William I and his successor William II (reigned 1821–47) were reactionaries who overturned the liberal reforms made in Hesse-Kassel previously by the French. The electors continuously quarreled with liberal reformers in the Diet (legislative assembly), and in 1831 revolutionary action compelled William II t... |
7c45dcc322fd712fbc5e620c55d82747 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-II-emperor-of-Germany/Legacy | Legacy | Legacy
William often bombastically claimed to be the man who made the decisions. It is true that the German constitution of 1871 put two important powers in his hands. First, he was responsible for appointing and dismissing the chancellor, the head of the civil government. The chancellor needed the support of the Reich... |
2a200aff7edeaa578e5eef61596500a1 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-II-Villehardouin | William II Villehardouin | William II Villehardouin
…most successful under its prince William II Villehardouin (1246–78), but in 1259 he had to cede a number of fortresses, including Mistra, Monemvasiá, and Maina, to the Byzantines. Internecine squabbles weakened resistance to Byzantine pressure, especially from the 1370s onward, when Jacques de... |
bffc267e3c32bcbf343671233ba81cc5 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-III-king-of-England-Scotland-and-Ireland/King-of-England | King of England | King of England
In November 1677 William had married his cousin Mary, daughter of James, duke of York (later King James II of England). William himself stood fourth in the English succession, and this marriage with the heiress presumptive gave him added importance in England, though during Charles II’s reign his role i... |
8b07007f9469c096a14942c20808bca3 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-IV-count-of-Holland | William IV | William IV
…succession on the death of William IV (1345) led to a prolonged civil war between factions known as the Hooks (Hoeken) and the Cods (Kabeljauwen), who came to represent rival aristocratic and middle-class parties, respectively. The issue was finally settled with the intervention of the house of Wittelsbach,... |
3dfe98e596a810977bc35d43203720e5 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-IV-grand-duke-of-Luxembourg | William IV | William IV
William IV, German in full Wilhelm Alexander, (born April 22, 1852, Biebrich, Nassau, Germany—died February 25, 1912, Schloss Berg, near Luxembourg), grand duke of Luxembourg (1905–12), eldest son of grand duke Adolf of Nassau. Falling severely ill soon after his accession, he eventually on March 19, 1908, ... |
163f2db2adbbba0946252fc149cbb4fe | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-IX | William IX | William IX
William IX, (born Oct. 22, 1071—died Feb. 10, 1127, Poitiers, Fr.), medieval troubadour, count of Poitiers and duke of Aquitaine and of Gascony (1086–1127), son of William VIII and grandfather of the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine.
William IX spent most of his life in warfare, including leading an unsuccessf... |
da62e511a60e1d58e8f5ddb46fc32e8e | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-J-Casey | William J. Casey | William J. Casey
William J. Casey, in full William Joseph Casey, (born March 13, 1913, Elmhurst, Queens, N.Y., U.S.—died May 6, 1987, Glen Cove, N.Y.), powerful and controversial director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1981 to 1987 during the Ronald Reagan administration.
Casey graduated from Ford... |
d247559b47dd356313051e45fd773698 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Jaggard | William Jaggard | William Jaggard
…headed by Edward Blount and William Jaggard. The actors John Heminge and Henry Condell undertook the collection of 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, and about 1,000 copies of the First Folio were printed, none too well, by Jaggard’s son, Isaac.
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f3f37593c0ac5f84eb8a77f6dc487f64 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-James-Mayo | William James Mayo | William James Mayo
William James Mayo (b. June 29, 1861, Le Sueur, Minn.—d. July 28, 1939, Rochester) was the eldest son of William Worrall Mayo. He received his M.D. degree in 1883 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and then engaged at Rochester in the private practice…
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583700563d47264b85d2bd3eace2652c | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Jefferson-Hague | William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond | William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond
William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond, (born March 26, 1961, Rotherham, Yorkshire, England), British politician who served as leader of the Conservative Party (1997–2001) and as foreign secretary under Prime Minister David Cameron (2010–14).
Hague was born in... |
972b28751b260d8311080903fc0c73a8 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-John-Wilgus | William John Wilgus | William John Wilgus
Wilgus in the Detroit River in 1903 for the Michigan Central Railroad. Wilgus dredged a trench in the riverbed, floated segments of steel tube into position, and sank them; the segments were locked together by divers and pumped out and could then be covered with…
…developed by an American engineer, ... |
9a6d60c4a7eb649e762db2d5ee78aaba | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-John-Wills | William John Wills | William John Wills
…by his second in command, William John Wills, and by Charles Gray and John King. The four reached northern Australia in February 1861 but could not penetrate the swamps and jungle scrub that lay between them and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
…of Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills, who crossed fro... |
6d4f23a24aa4451ad1feb82550d204cc | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Joseph-Brennan-Jr | William Brennan | William Brennan
William Brennan, in full William Joseph Brennan, Jr., (born April 25, 1906, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died July 24, 1997, Arlington, Va.), associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1956–90).
Brennan was the son of William Joseph Brennan, an Irish immigrant who was a brewery worker and unio... |
bdfa7985833b62da6a4b66aa31cc9da8 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Julius-Wilson | William Julius Wilson | William Julius Wilson
William Julius Wilson, (born Dec. 20, 1935, Derry township, Pa., U.S.), American sociologist whose views on race and urban poverty helped shape U.S. public policy and academic discourse.
Wilson was educated at Wilberforce University (B.A., 1958) and Bowling Green State University (M.A., 1961) in ... |
f6851fa32f5f8fe817966725d168bbcb | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-K-Estes | William K. Estes | William K. Estes
William K. Estes, in full William Kaye Estes, (born June 17, 1919, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.—died August 17, 2011), American psychologist who pioneered the application of mathematics to the study of animal learning and human cognition.
Estes received B.A. (1940) and Ph.D. (1943) degrees in psychol... |
ae18bf5d46bdcab3627d2c583b4bd496 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Keith-Brooks | William Keith Brooks | William Keith Brooks
William Keith Brooks, (born March 25, 1848, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.—died Nov. 12, 1908, Lake Roland, Md.), American zoologist known for his research on the anatomy and embryology of marine animals, especially the tunicates, crustaceans (e.g., crayfish), and mollusks (notably the oyster). In his acce... |
642feab518a05af7bf92ecaa645527e9 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Kennedy-Laurie-Dickson | William Kennedy Laurie Dickson | William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
He assigned the project to William K.L. Dickson, an employee interested in photography, in 1888. After studying the work of various European photographers who also were trying to record motion, Edison and Dickson succeeded in constructing a working camera and a viewing instrument, which w... |
e29138b647ed56486a12d54c70329922 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Kent | William Kent | William Kent
William Kent, (born c. 1685, Bridlington, Yorkshire, Eng.—died April 12, 1748, London), English architect, interior designer, landscape gardener, and painter, a principal master of the Palladian architectural style in England and pioneer in the creation of the “informal” English garden.
Kent was said to... |
6c28934e967c19b7eba3209a910d06fe | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-king-of-Germany | William | William
William, also called William Of Holland, German Wilhelm Von Holland, (born 1228—died Jan. 28, 1256, near Hoogwoude, Holland), German king from Oct. 3, 1247, elected by the papal party in Germany as antiking in opposition to Conrad IV and subsequently gaining general recognition. As William II he was also cou... |
9dca09c6b9e345e69f6446761c11bbc3 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Klein | William Klein | William Klein
…the late 1940s and ’50s, William Klein, Lisette Model, Helen Levitt, Roy DeCarava, and Robert Frank were making careers of documenting American culture. The photographs they took were provocative and often contained vulgar or unaesthetic subject matter. Levitt,
|
68931d004e939c08d3937e1bdc1ea30d | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Knox-DArcy | William Knox D'Arcy | William Knox D'Arcy
William Knox D’Arcy, (born Oct. 11, 1849, Newton Abbot, Devonshire, Eng.—died May 1, 1917, Stanmore, Middlesex [now Greater London]), English businessman who was the principal founder of the Iranian oil industry.
As a youth D’Arcy emigrated with his father to Queensland, Australia, where between 1... |
848530b3ce99b51a56920896f659f957 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Kunstler | William Kunstler | William Kunstler
…seven defendants, plus their attorney William Kunstler, to prison terms for contempt of court. The contempt convictions were reversed on appeal in 1972, and, in a separate appeal that same year, all the criminal convictions except Seale’s were also overturned. The appellate court cited, in part, the j... |
b0bb56661963a8ece17ed99ecc71d8d8 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-L-Marcy | William L. Marcy | William L. Marcy
William L. Marcy, (born Dec. 12, 1786, Southbridge, Mass., U.S.—died July 4, 1857, Ballston Spa, N.Y.), U.S. politician, governor, and Cabinet member, remembered primarily for his remark: “To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.”
From 1823 to 1829 Marcy was comptroller of New York state and a l... |
91d1f794b0febd1e516a1c040acebc13 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-L-Shirer | William L. Shirer | William L. Shirer
William L. Shirer, in full William Lawrence Shirer, (born Feb. 23, 1904, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died Dec. 28, 1993, Boston, Mass.), American journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his massive study The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1960).
In the 1920s and ’30s... |
0aa65ffe547ad30a994074a0526e0984 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Langland | William Langland | William Langland
William Langland, (born c. 1330—died c. 1400), presumed author of one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegorical work with a complex variety of religious themes. One of the major achievements of Piers Plowman is that it translates t... |
a3d0c06d87d68335658ea28c97c7b823 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Latimer | William Latimer | William Latimer
…dominated by men such as William Latimer, the chamberlain, proved unpopular and ineffective. When the so-called Good Parliament met in 1376, grievances had accumulated and needed to be dealt with. As in previous crises, a committee consisting of four bishops, four earls, and four barons was set up to t... |
87a5ad8e16c621c862a69ee0a87d17da | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Laud/Trial-and-execution | Trial and execution. | Trial and execution.
In the spring of 1640 Parliament met for the first time in 11 years and with it the clerical assembly, the Convocation, which laid down in a new set of canons the principles of the Laudian church. They explained the prescribed ceremonies as “fit and convenient” rather than essential. But they added... |
43b2be76bb14cd3ec7f70c4afffcaaf6 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lawes | William Lawes | William Lawes
William Lawes, (baptized May 1, 1602, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England—died Sept. 24, 1645, Chester, Cheshire), English composer, prominent during the early Baroque period, noted for his highly original instrumental music.
The brother of the composer Henry Lawes, he entered the household of the earl of Hert... |
e8362947776689361090918481d330cf | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Leedes | William Leedes | William Leedes
with John Newberry, John Eldred, William Leedes, and James Story, Fitch embarked in the Tiger and reached Syria in late April. (Act I, scene 3 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth alludes to the trip.) From Aleppo (Syria), they went overland to the Euphrates, which they descended to Al-Fallūjah, now in Iraq,... |
87805c35f4e34dacd09c38d8bb6ba07a | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lenthall | William Lenthall | William Lenthall
William Lenthall, (born June 1591, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died Sept. 3, 1662, Burford, Oxfordshire), English Parliamentarian who, as speaker of the House of Commons, was at the centre of repeated struggles between the Parliamentarians and Royalists during the English Civil Wars.
Trained ... |
9f55006acf3b875b974bba75aaa5ecb3 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lescaze | William Lescaze | William Lescaze
William Lescaze, (born March 27, 1896, Geneva, Switz.—died Feb. 9, 1969, New York, N.Y., U.S.), Swiss-born American architect best known for conceiving, in conjunction with George Howe, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building, or PSFS (1931–32), which effectively introduced the International st... |
9d44ab83b8c1f6e2a23e13ec3d80d3f0 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Leybourn | William Leybourn | William Leybourn
In England, somewhat belatedly, William Leybourn, a mathematics teacher, textbook writer, and surveyor, in 1694, published his Pleasure with Profit: Consisting of Recreations of Divers Kinds, viz., Numerical, Geometrical, Mechanical, Statical, Astronomical, Horometrical, Cryptographical, Magnetical, Au... |
2d22f5c7a7d1fe19e81d8a976c8c9c1d | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Longchamp | William Longchamp | William Longchamp
William Longchamp, (died Jan. 31, 1197, Poitiers, France), ecclesiastical statesman who governed England in 1190–91, while King Richard I (reigned 1189–99) was away from the kingdom during the Third Crusade.
Of Norman origin, Longchamp was made chancellor of England and bishop of Ely when Richard asc... |
83ce1139d005e3d4b46490d18fad393a | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Longsword-3rd-earl-of-Salisbury | William Longsword, 3rd earl of Salisbury | William Longsword, 3rd earl of Salisbury
William Longsword, 3rd earl of Salisbury, Longsword also called Longespée, (died March 7, 1226, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England), an illegitimate son of Henry II of England who became a prominent baron, soldier, and administrator under Kings John and Henry III. His date of birth ... |
21aa209e761d0d7a5953080aadbdb21f | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lonsdale | William Lonsdale | William Lonsdale
William Lonsdale, (born Sept. 9, 1794, Bath, Somerset, Eng.—died Nov. 11, 1871, Bristol, Gloucestershire), English geologist and paleontologist whose studies of fossil corals suggested the existence of an intermediate system of rocks, the Devonian System, between the Carboniferous System (299 million ... |
bd8f594d1284678be55de77e0af86324 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Lyon-Mackenzie | William Lyon Mackenzie | William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie, (born March 12, 1795, Springfield, Angus, Scot.—died Aug. 28, 1861, Toronto), Scottish-born journalist and political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Canadian government in 1837.
Mackenzie emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1820 and became a general ... |
d60c451780efe6cef8d5cc9e855d27de | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-M-Kelso | William Kelso | William Kelso
William Kelso, also called William M. Kelso, (born March 30, 1941, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), American archaeologist who directed the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, an organized effort to uncover and preserve artifacts from the Jamestown Colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Kel... |
7e0f3232f17a629446468cdbc2eca6f1 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Makepeace-Thackeray/Mature-writings | Mature writings | Mature writings
With Vanity Fair (1847–48), the first work published under his own name, Thackeray adopted the system of publishing a novel serially in monthly parts that had been so successfully used by Dickens. Set in the second decade of the 19th century, the period of the Regency, the novel deals mainly with the in... |
16a3d53debeb0f162dce5cd4a7a4b3b9 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Manchester | William Manchester | William Manchester
In the United States, William Manchester’s Death of a President (1967), on John F. Kennedy, created an even greater stir in the popular press. There the issue is usually presented as “the public’s right to know”; but for the biographer it is a problem of his obligation to preserve…
|
5f11aef9633d74baaa5989732a467e0d | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-McDougall-American-psychologist | William McDougall | William McDougall
William McDougall, (born June 22, 1871, Chadderton, Lancashire, Eng.—died Nov. 28, 1938, Durham, N.C., U.S.), British-born U.S. psychologist influential in establishing experimental and physiological psychology and author of An Introduction to Social Psychology (1908; 30th ed. 1960), which did much ... |
2b48fedaf70e78837ba100d6ffbbcf53 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Meredith | William Meredith | William Meredith
William Meredith, in full William Morris Meredith, Jr., (born Jan. 9, 1919, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died May 30, 2007, New London, Conn.), American poet whose formal and unadorned verse was compared to that of Robert Frost. Meredith was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1988.
Meredith attended Princeton Univer... |
72b60645676b7c9922ee151515a6a93f | https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Monson | Sir William Monson | Sir William Monson
Sir William Monson, (born 1568, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died February 1643, Kinnersley, Surrey), English naval officer best-known for his Naval Tracts.
He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1581 but four years later ran away to sea; however, he took his degree in 1594. In the Spanish Armada campaign he... |
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