WOOLNER, Alfred Cooper. Etruria Hall near Hanley, Staffordshire 13.5.1878 — Lahore 7.1.1936. British Indologist in India. Professor in Lahore. Son of Captain Henry Woolner (1837–1902), an artist and art teacher, and his wife Catherine Esther Cooper, grew up in Suffolk. Educated in Ipswich, in 1897-1902 studied Sanskrit (Macdonell), Chinese and…
WOODWARD, Frank Lee (nom-de-plume Vanapāla). Saham Toney, Norfolk 13.4.1871 — West Tamar (Rowella), Tasmania 27.5.1952. British Indologist (Pāli Scholar) and Bauddha (Theosophist). Son of an Anglican clergyman, Rev. William Woodward (d. 1912), and Elizabeth Mary Ann Lee. After traditional public school (Christ’s Hospital) in London came in the age of…
WOODS, James Haughton. Boston 27.11.1864 — Tokyo 14.1.1935. U.S. Indologist. Professor in Cambridge, MA. Son of Joseph Wheeler Woods (1829–1912) and Caroline Frances Fitz. Studies at Harvard (A.B. 1887) and Cambridge Theological Seminary. Further studies at Berlin in 1889-91, Oxford 1891 and Strassburg 1894-97. Ph.D. 1896 Strassburg. Teaching at Harvard:…
WOODROFFE, John George (pen-name Arthur Avalon). Calcutta 13.2./15.12. 1865 — Beausoleil (Alpes-Maritimes), France 16/18.1.1936. Sir. British Lawyer and Indologist in India. Son of of James Tisdall Woodroffe (1838–1908), later Advocate-General of Bengal (1899-1904), and Florence Hume. Educated in England, at Woburn Park Catholic public school, studies at University College, Oxford (B.C.L. 1888, M.A.). In…
WOLLHEIM DA FONSECA, Anton Eduard (also known as Wollheim von Secka). Hamburg 12.2.1810 — Berlin 24.10.1884. German Indologist. Born in a Catholic family (?) of Jewish origin as A. E. Wollheim (Wikipedia says he himself adopted catholicism only later), son of merchant Hirsch Jakob Wollheim and Antonie von Secka (Wikipedia)…
WOLFF, Fritz Georg. Berlin 11.11.1880 — Auschwitz after 31.3.1943. German Iranian Scholar. Son of a wealthy merchant, Emanuel Wolff (1850–1901), and Hedwig née Wolff (1860–1935). Educated in Berlin, then studied many languages at Munich, Heidelberg (i.al. Osthoff), Berlin and Giessen. Ph.D. 1905 Giessen, under Bartholomae. Lived some time in Münster,…
WOLFENDEN, Stuart Norris. London 1889 — Berkeley, Calif. 28.12.1938 (when 47). British Tibeto-Burman Linguist in the U.S.A. Son of physician Richard Norris Wolfenden and Jessie Stuart Jardine, born with somewhat crippled hip. Parents separated in practice 1892 (formally 1902) because of mother’s alcoholism, grew up with his father in Pangbourne,…
WOEPCKE (Woepke, Wöpcke), Franz. Dessau 6.5.1826 — Paris 25.3.1864, when 37. German Oriental (Arabic) Scholar and Historian of Mathematics in France. Son of postmaster Ernst Ludwig Wöpcke (1784–1868) and Wilhelmine Chapon (1792–1870), educated in Dessau. From 1843 studies of mathematics at Berlin. Ph.D. 1847 Berlin. Now studied Arabic at Bonn…
WISE, Thomas Alexander. Dundee 13.6.1802 (?) — Norwood, London 23.7.1889. British (Scottish) Physician in India. Son of Thomas Wise, also a physician. Graduated M.D. in medicine, Edinburgh 1824. In 1827-51 in Indian Medical Service, soon became interested in Āyurveda. He studied Sanskrit and achieved an extensive collection of artefacts illustrating…
WIRTZ, Johannes (Hans) Friedrich Albert. Mülheim am Rhein (near Köln) 22.1.1867 — Ibid. 1942. German Sinologist and former Student of Indology. Son of Wilhelm Wirtz, a merchant, lost his mother in 1870 and father 1885. School in Mülheim, gymnasium 1879-83 in Bonn and 1883-87 in Gütersloh. After one term of…