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, gymnasium 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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
WAIT, William Henry. McConnell, Illinois 1854? — Ann Arbor 28.2.1939. U.S. Linguist and Germanist. Son of Nelson W. and Mary Catherine Root. Graduated B.A. 1879 from Northwestern University, A.M. there 1882. Ph.D. 1888 Allegheny. From 1883 taught at Illinois Wesleyan University. Further studies at Berlin and Bonn 1894-95. In 1895-1901…