WALL, George. North Shields, Northumberland 22.12.1820 — London 16.12.1894. British Merchant, Coffee Planter, Politician, amateur Astronomer, Botanist and Humanitarian in Sri Lanka. Son of George Wall, a Methodist Minister, and Ann Lytham, educated at Harrow. Worked in an engineering firm, in 1846 left for Ceylon because of health problems. Worked…
WALDSCHMIDT, Rose Leonore Marie (née Ohrlich). Berlin 21.5.1895 — 1988. German Indologist. Daughter of Richard Ohrlich, auditor and tax consultant, and Katharina Herrmann, educated in Berlin. She was a textile designer and then specialized on the history of South Asian handicrafts. From 1927 wife of —> Ernst Waldschmidt (1897–1985). In…
WADE, Thomas Russell. 1839? — 23.10.1914, when 75. Rev. British Missionary in India. Educated at C.M.S. College in Islington. Arrived at Calcutta 1862, ordained there 1863. In 1862-1907 worked for Church Missionary Society in Peshawar (1862-72), Lahore (1872-76), Srinagar (1876-82), Amritsar (1882-1902) and Batala, retired in 1907. Back in England he…
WAGNER, Paul. 1868 — 1951 (?). Rev. German Missionary in India. Worked in Purulia, Chota Nagpur. In 1915 WW I forced him back to Germany. Married 1897 Marie Hahn, the daughter of —> Ferdinand Hahn, children. Publications: “Some Kolarian Riddles current among the Mundaris in Chota Nagpur, Bengal”, JASB Extra Number 1904, 62-79.…
WADE, John Peter. 1762 — Calcutta 14.10.1802. British (Scottish) Physician in India. From 1784 Assistant Medical Surgeon in E.I.C.’s service, first in Benares, then in Chunar. In 1792-94 in Assam. Married 1791 Rachel Carruthers (1765–1849) in Edinburgh during a furlough, one daughter and one son. Publications: “A Geographical Sketch of Assam”, Asiatic…
WRIGHT, Joseph. Idle near Bradford, Yorkshire 31.10.1855 — 27.2.1930. British Linguist. Son of Dufton Wright (d. 1866), a woollen cloth weaver and quarryman, and Sarah Ann Atkinson, a modest family. Working from childhood he started night-school when 15, concentrating on languages, and in 1876 went with his modest savings to…
WRIGHT, Henry Nelson. 1870 — 1941. British Civil Servant (or Colonial Officer?) and Numismatist In India, concentrating on Muslim coins. Founder member of the Numismatic Society of India (1910, when he served in Allahabad). His coin collection is now divided between British and Delhi Museums. Publications: Catalogue of the Coins…
WLISLOCKI, Heinrich Adalbert von. Kronstadt (now Braşov) 9.7.1856 — Klosdorf bei Kleinkopisch (now Şona in Translivania) 19.2.1907. Austrian Gypsy Scholar. His father was Polish-Austrian tax collector and mother a German of Transylvania, educated in Kronstadt. In 1875-79 studied at Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca), mainly Germanic, but also Sanskrit (Brassai). Ph.D. 1879 (diss.…
WILMOT, Claude Rupert Trench. Stoke Newington, London 10.11.1897 — Cirencester, Gloucestershire 27.7.1961. British Colonial Officer in North-West India. Son of Claude Ernest Willington Wilmot and Gertrude Isabelle Bate. Served in the WW I in Sherwood Foresters, then served in Egypt, Turkey and India, in the Punjab and Karachi. Served in…
WILLIAMS, William Holme. 18?? – 19??. U.S. Classical and Oriental Scholar. A.B. 1876 University of Wisconsin. From 1879 Instructor and 1883 Assistant Professor of Greek, 1889 Professor of Hebrew and Sanskrit at University of Wisconsin in Madison, started Sanskrit teaching there. From 1892 Professor of Semitic Languages and Hellenistic Greek…