WIDENGREN, Geo. Stockholm 24.4.1907 — Stockholm 28.1.1996. Swedish Scholar of Comparative Religion and of Iranian and Semitic Philology. Professor in Uppsala. Son of Hugo Jakobsson, a soldier, and Anna née Widengren, grew up in Stockholm. Matriculated in 1925, in 1925-27 in military service. Studies in 1928-36 at Uppsala under H.…
WESTMACOTT, George Edward. London 23.2.1807 — near Kabul 23.11.1841, when 35. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of George W. (1783–1868) and Ann Knightley Seller (1781–1855). Arrived in India in 1823 as Ensign. Captain 1833, then Assistant to the Government General’s Agent in North-East Frontier, visited Assam and Sindh. Participated…
WESENDONK, Otto-Günther von (born O.-G. Wesendonck). Berlin 3.10.1885 — Berlin (Wikip. St. Margarethen, Upper Bavaria) 11.7.1933. German Diplomat and Iranian Scholar. His father, Karl W. (1857–1934, a physicist), was knighted in 1900, mother was Eveline von Hessenstein (1861–1945). From 1903 studied at Berlin, Bonn and Heidelberg. Dr.jur. 1906 (diss. on…
WELLER, Friedrich. Markneukirchen, Vogtland 22.7.1889 — Leipzig 19.11.1980. German Indologist. Professor in Leipzig. The only child of Friedrich Wilhelm Weller (1854-1944), a violin maker, and Marie Wettengel (1860-1953). Educated at local village school and from 1901 at Realgymnasium in Plauen. From 1909 studied at Leipzig, first Romance and Germanic philology,…
WEBER, Friedrich Albrecht. Breslau 17.2.1825 — Berlin 30.11.1901. German Indologist. Professor in Berlin. Son of Friedrich Benedikt Weber (1774–1848), a Professor of Economics (Cameralist). Educated at monastery school in Rossleben, learned there Greek and Hebrew. In 1842-45 studied classical and Oriental philology at Breslau (Sanskrit under Stenzler), for a while…
WARREN, William Fairfield. Williamsburg MA 13.3.1833 — Brookline MA 7.12.1929. U.S. Theologian and Scholar of Religion. Episcopal priest. Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown and Andower Theological Seminary, then at Berlin and Halle. In 1860-66 taught at Methodist Episcopal Missionary Institute in Bremen. Back in the States, he worked at…
WARREN, Sybrandus (Sieb) Johannes. Dokkum, Friesland 19.8.1847 — Rotterdam 3.1.1910. Dutch Indologist and Classical Philologist. Son of school director Johannes Henricus Warren (1809–1853) and Wytske Sjoerdina Fockema (1814–1896). In 1864-71 studied at Leiden Classics and Sanskrit, then teacher in Zwolle. Ph.D. 1875 Leiden (under Kern). Worked as schoolteacher of classical…
WARE, James Roland. 1901 — 27.2.1991 (or 1993?). U.S. Buddhist Scholar and Sinologist. Studies of Indology (and probably Classics) at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (Edgerton), then further studies of Indology, Tibetan and Chinese in Paris (Lévi et al.). Ph.D. Around 1924 Instructor of Latin at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,…
WARD, William. Derby 20.10.1769 — Serampur 7.3.1823. Rev. British Baptist Missionary in India and Precursor of Indology. Son of John Ward, carpenter and builder. Apprenticed to a printer, worked as printer and editor (of the Derby Mercury, Stafford Advertiser, and Hull Advertiser). Baptized in 1796, preached in villages and in…
WALDSCHMIDT, Ernst Heinrich Franz. Lünen, Westfalen 15.7.1897 — Göttingen 25.2.1985. German Indologist and Buddhist Scholar. Professor in Göttingen. Son of Ernst Waldschmidt, a bookbinder and merchant, and Elise Goormann, the father died two months before his birth. Grew up with his mother and her parents in Lünen near Dortmund. Matriculated…