WIMMER, Ludvig Frands Adalbert. Ringkøbing on Jutland west coast 7.2.1839 — Copenhagen 29.4.1920. Danish Linguist. Son of Adalbert Ernst Wimmer (1805–1882), a customs officer, and Karoline Henriette Petersen. Educated in Kolding and Ribe. Studied at Copenhagen Germanics, classics, comparative linguistics and Sanskrit (under Westergaard), even Arabic and Hebrew. M.A. there…
WILSON, John. Lauder, Berwickshire 11.12.1804 — near Bombay 1.12.1875. Rev. British (Scottish) Missionary in India, Indologist and Iranian Scholar. Son of Andrew Wilson, a farmer and township councillor of Lauder, and Janet Hunter, grew up in Lauder. From the age of 14 studied arts, then theology at Edinburgh, during holidays…
WILSON, Horace Hayman. London 26.9.1786 (date uncertain) — London 8.5.1860. British Indologist. In India 1808-32, then Professor in Oxford. Born in a modest family. Educated at Soho Academy in London and from 1804 studied medicine at St.Thomas’ Hospital, but also learned the elements of minting. In 1808 left forBengal as…
WILSON, Charles Robert. Old Charlton, Kent 27.3.1863 — Clapham, London 24.7.1904. British Civil Servant (Teacher) in India, Historian of the Colonial Period. Son of Charles Wilson, an army tutor, and Charlotte Woodthorpe Childs (1817–1905). “Educated at City of London School and Wadham College, Oxford [B.A. 1887]; entered the Bengal Education…
WILLMAN-GRABOWSKA, Helena Antonina Maria. Warsaw 4.1.1870 — Cracow 31.10.1957. Polish Indologist. Professor in Crakow. Daughter of Józef Wojciech Grabowski (1818–1892) and Elżbieta Lipińska (1848–1908). After school in Warsaw she became a schoolteacher in 1887 (when 17). Soon active in anti-Russian movement. Women were then not allowed to the university, but…
WILLIAMS, Monier —> MONIER-WILLIAMS, Sir Monier.
WILLIAMS, Alfred Owen. South Marston near Swindon, Wiltshire 7.2.1877 — Ibid. 10.4.1930. “The Hammerman Poet”. British Poet interested in Sanskrit Literature. Son of carpenter Elias Williams, who soon abandoned his family and left them in poverty. He was a self-taught man, who from the age of 14 worked many years…
WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK (Guglielmus de Rubruquis, Guillaume de Rubrouck, Willem van Ruysbroeck, Risbroucke). 1215/20 — after 1255. Flemish Traveller, a Franciscan Monk. Probably born in Rubrouck in French Flanders. In 1248 participated in the 7th Crusade. Head of the embassy sent by Louis IX of France to the Mongol Khan…
WILKS, Mark. Isle of Man 1759 — Kelloe House, Berwickshire 19.9.1831. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of Rev. James Wilks (1719–1777) and Elizabeth Christian, a family of Manx gentry. Joined the E.I.C.’s army and went to Madras in 1782. Learned soon Persian. In 1786 Deputy Secretary to the Military…
WILKINSON, Lancelot. Crosby-Ravensworth, Cumbria 22.6.1805 — Sehore near Bhopal 13.11.1841. British Scholar of Astronomy in India. Son of James Wilkinson (1765–1820) and Nanny Eggleston (1771–1820). Came to India as a writer in 1822 and joined Bombay C.S. From 1824 Assistant to Collector of Southern Konkan, from 1826 Assistant Resident in…