WILLIAMS, Robert Hamilton Blair. Buckland, East Tilbury, Essex 21.8.1915 — 1975 (place and date not known). British Indologist. At S.O.A.S. in London. Son of Hamilton Blair Lee Williams. Graduated B.A. 1937 from S.O.A.S. in Indo-Aryan (under Turner). Assistant Keeper in India Office Library (Sanskrit, Pāli and Prākrit books) in 1939-46…
WHITEHEAD, Henry Alfred. Brighton, Sussex 19.12.1853 — Reading, Berkshire 14.4.1947. British Missionary Scholar in India. Sin of Rev. Alfred Whitehead and Maria Sarah Buckmaster, brother of philosopher A. N. Wh. (1861–1947). Educated at Sherborne and Trinity College, Oxford. Ordained 1879, left in 1884 to India. Worked as principal of Bishop’s College…
WESTPHAL-HELLBUSCH, Sigrid. Rendsburg 10.6.1915 — Oldenburg 1.2.1984. German Anthropologist. Professor in Berlin. Daughter of engineer (DI) Erwin Hellbusch and Martha Philippi, school in Berlin. From 1935 studied Anthropology, Geography and Psychology at Berlin. Ph.D. 1940. Then worked at Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde 1940-45. PD 1946 Berlin (Humboldt University), in 1951-53 Professor…
WESSELSKI, Albert. Vienna 3.9.1871 — Prague 2.2.1939. Austrian Journalist and Folklorist in Czechoslovakia. Son of gymnasium professor Franz W. (d. 1875) and Franziska Reinkenhof. Gymnasium in Vienna, then studied there history of literature, but soon switched to engineering. Engineer 1897 Technische Hochschule Wien. In 1902-06 worked in Landesbauamt in Graz,…
WEÖRES, Sándor. Szombathely 22.6.1913 — 22.1.1989. Hungarian Poet and Translator. Son of the elder S. Weöres and Mária Blaskovich. Published his first poems as a teenager. Studies of law, soon of geography and history at Pécs University, Ph.D. in aesthetics. In 1937 visited Philippines, Vietnam and India. During WW II…
WENDEL, François-Xavier. 1732? — Lakhnau 20.3.1803. Father. German Jesuit Missionary in India. Very little is known of his life. He arrived in India in 1751. First in Goa and Diu, from 1763 in Lakhnau, later also in Agra, but often ill. For a while he served the Rāja of Bhāratpur.…
WEINFURTER, Karel. Jičin, region Hradec Králové 27.5.1867 — Prague 14.3.1942. Czech Author and Translator. Son of Karel W. and his wife Antonia, the family moved to Prague in 1880. A Christian mystic interested in Yoga, Theosophy, astrology, etc. Apparently his Indian translations were made from English and German versions. Publications: Divy…
WEILER, Royal W. Allentown, PA 16.9.1927 — Philadelphia County ?.1.1987 (when 59). U.S. Indologist. Professor in Philadelphia. Son of Fred W. Weiler, Sr. (1902–1951) and Jane Katharine Edwards. Graduated 1945 from Allen High School. Studies at University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1951), Ph.D. there 1956 (under W. N. Brown). Then one…
WASSON, Robert Gordon. Great Falls, Montana 22.9.1898 — Danbury, CT (or Binghampton, NY) 26.12.1986. U.S. “Ethnomycologist”. Studied at Columbia University. From 1928 worked in banks. For a while also worked for C.I.A. (1956). In 1979 living in Dunbury, Connecticut. Married 1927 Valentina Pavlovna Guercken (1901–1958), who participated in their ethnomycological…
WARREN, Herbert. 1866 — 1954. British Promoter of Jainism. Studied under Virchand Gandhi (1864–1901) and adopted Jainism, his books are based on Gandhi’s teaching. Publications: Jainism in Western Garb as a Solution to Life’s Great Problems. Arrah 1912, 2nd ed. 148 p. Arrah 1916; Jainism Not Atheism and the six dravyas…