WRIGHT, Henry Nelson. Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh 29.10.1869 — England 13.5.1941. British Civil Servant and Numismatist In India, concentrating on Muslim coins. Son of Francis Nelson Wright (1840–1900) of I.C.S. and Amelia Hannah Barness (1842?–1885?), educated at Eton. Studied two years classics at Oxford (Corpus Christi College). In 1890 sailed to…
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 (Saxon) of Transylvania, gymnasium in Kronstadt. In 1875-79 studied at Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca), mainly Germanic, but also Sanskrit (Brassai). He proceeded…
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 (1868–1935), a physician, and Gertrude Isabelle Bate. Served in the WW I in Sherwood Foresters, then served in Egypt, Turkey and India, in the Punjab and…
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, when 93. British Anglican Missionary in India. Son of Rev. Alfred Whitehead (1827–1898) and Maria Sarah Buckmaster, brother of philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Educated at Sherborne and Trinity College, Oxford. Ordained 1879, left in 1884 to India. Worked as principal…
WESSELSKI, Albert. Vienna 3.9.1871 — Prague 2.2.1939. Austrian Journalist and Folklorist in Czechoslovakia. Son of gymnasium professor Franz Wesselski (d. 1875) and Franziska Reinkenhof. Roman Catholic. 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…
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, Bohemia 27.5.1867 — Prague 14.3.1942. Czech Author and Translator. Son of Karel Weinfurter, an official and former soldier, and his wife Antonia Jiránková, the family moved to Prague in 1880. Worked in art business, 1908-11 in university administration, then free author. Died after violent…
WASSON, Robert Gordon. Great Falls, Montana 22.9.1898 — Danbury, CT (or Binghampton, NY) 26.12.1986. U.S. “Ethnomycologist”. Son of an Episcopal clergyman, grew up in Newark, NJ. Studied at Columbia University (graduated 1920) and 1920-21 at London School of Economics and Political Science. Then worked as journalist and from 1928 on…
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…