• WAAD, Armagil (d.1568).  English explorer.  He sailed to North America in 1536, visiting Newfoundland.  On his return he entered the king's service becoming  clerk of Calais.  He was later employed on diplomatic missions with the French and Spanish.  He published The distresses of the Commonwealth, with the Means to Remedy Them. as well as other treatises and some verse.
• WAAD, Sir William, (1546-1623).  Son of the above, he was a lawyer and worked for Burghley 1576-79 on the continent.  He was Ambassador to Portugal 1580, then went to Vienna, Denmark and Madrid, 1584.   He was sent to persuade Mary Stuart in 1584 to agree to Elizabeth's terms, to France, 1585, and the Low Countries 1586. Sir William organised the seizure of the papers which implicated Mary in the Babington plot.  In 1587 we find him in France, exployed as a secret agent in the detection of Jesuit and other plots against the queen, and later, against James I.  Also he was one of the chief promoters of the Virginia Company.
• WAAGEN, Gustav Friederich (1794-1868).  German art critic. He studied the treasures of the chief continental galleries and in 1832 became director of the Berlin Museum, and was appointed professor of the history of art in Berlin,  1861.  His publications include The Treasures of Art in Great Britain, (1854-57; Kunstwerke und Kunstler in Deutschland, and essays on the Van Eycks, Rubens, and others.
• WAALS, Johannes Diderik van der (1837-1923).  Dutch physicist.   He was professor of physics at Amsterdam, 1877-1907.   His chief work was done on the kinetic theory of liquids and gases, propounding the continuity of the liquid and gaseous states, and he contrived an equation which explained critical phenomena for both states and was the same for all substances.   He also enunciated his law of corresponding states, and the law governing dual mixtures of liquids and gases.  He received the Nobel prize for physics in 1910.
• WACE, Henry (1836-1924).  British divine.  Ordained in 1861.  Became professor of ecclesiastical history at King's College, London, Principal of King's College, 1882-96, and dean of Canterbury from 1896-1903, Rector of St. Michael's, Cornhill and preacher at Lincoln's Inn, 1880-96.
• WACE, Robert (c. 1100-c.1175).  Anglo Norman chronicler.  He received favours from both Henry I and Henry II of England, and was given a prebendal stall at Bayeux.  Author of two rhyming chronicles, Roman de Brut and Roman de Rou, concerning the history of England and Normandy.
• WACHENHUSEN, Hans (1822-98).  German author.  Known chiefly as the author of  many war books.  these include Von Widdin nach Stambul, 1855, and journals of the seats of war in Italy, Austria and France.  He wrote sketches of life in Paris as Paris and die Pariser, 1855, and Rouge et Noir, 1864.
• WACKENRODER, Wilhelm Heinrich (1773-98).  German writer. He developed a great interest in medieval art and wrote several essays and books on this subject, showing its relation with religion.  He also published a romance Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen.  His friend Tieck completed and published his unfinished works.
• WACKSMUTH, Charles (1829-96) American scientist. He emigrated to America in 1852 from Hanover, settling in Iowa.  Once there he began  studying palaeontology.  His collection of crinoids (sea lilies) became famous and he provided specimens for the Agassiz and Bitish Museums.  He wrote many authoritative papers on the subject.
• WADDINGTON, William Henry (1826-94)  French statesman.  He adopted French nationality in 1849.  He was known for his philological, archaeological and numismatic studies.  In 1871 he was elected to the Assembly, becoming minister of education in 1873 and 1876-77.  When attending the Congress of Berlin as minister  of foreign affairs, he became unpopular for consenting to the cession of Cyprus to Britain.  He became premier in 1879, ambassador in London 1883-93.
• WADE, George (1673-1748) British soldier. He served in Flanders, taking part at Steenkirk, 1692 and fighting under Marlborough, 1702-03.  He distinguished himself in Spain 1704-10 at the battles of Almanza and Saragossa. After the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 he held the command in the Highlands and was engaged in the construction of military roads from 1726-1737.  Made a field-marshall in 1743 he commanded the British troops in the unsuccessful cmpaign in Flanders in 1744. During the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 he was commander-in-chief in England for a time but was replaced by Cumberland.
• WADE, George Edward (1853-1933).  English sculptor.  He studied law, but turned to painting and later to sculpture.  His first exhibition was in 1890. His bust of Paderewski 1891 established his reputation. Some of his other works were bronze statues of the duke of Connaught, at Hong Kong, of Queen Victoria at Allahabad and Colombo, and of General and Mrs. Booth at Winnipeg.  The Boer War Memorial at Pietermaritzburg was also his work.
• WADE, Nathaniel (c.1666-1718).  English conspirator.  A lawyer he was implicated in the Rye House plot, 1683. Escaping to Holland, he entered the service of Monmouth, with whom he landed at Lyme Regis, 1685, fighting at Sedgemoor. When captured, he turned king's evidence and was pardoned in 1686. He was made town clerk in Bristol. A bridge he built over the Avon was known as the tratior's bridge.
• WADE, Sir Thomas Francis (1818-95).  English diplomat. In 1838 he entered the army, and 1842 found him in China. Having learnt the languate he was made interpreter.  Leaving the service in 1852 he became vice-consul at Shanghai. As Britain's representative on the Chinese customs commission he was to become Chinese secretary at Hong Kong in 1855.  He was chiefly responsible for negotiating the treaty of Tientsin, 1857.  He served in the embassy at Peking, 1861-83, becoming ambassador in 1883 and was received by the emperor..  Knighted in 1875 he became professor of Chinese at Cambridge in 1888.  He wrote several works on the Chinese language.
• WAFER, Lionel (c.1660-1705).  English buccaneer.  Going to sea in 1677 he visited the East Indies, and the West Indies in 1679.  There, he was employed as a surgeon.  Taking to buccaneering, he met Dampier and with him crossed the isthmus and laid waste several Spanish towns.  Remaining among the Darien Indians, he acted for some months as their doctor, but being contacted again by Dampier he went with him to Virginia.  After further buccaneering he received a royal pardon and returned to England.  In 1699 he published A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. This was considered a valuable account of life among the Indians before they had much contact with Europeans.
• WAGENBAUER, Maximilian Joseph (1775-1829) German painter.  He was self-taught, but by 1811 was the head of the Munich school of painters, becoming court painter to Maximilian I and director, 1815, of the Munich gallery.  His chief works were animal paintings and landscapes.
• WAGER, Sir Charles (1666-1743).  English sailor.  He was given comand of his first ship in 1692.  After service in the Mediterranean he was made a rear-admiral and commander-in-chief of Jamaica in 1707.  While there he distinguished himself and amassed a fortune by his daring and successful operations against the Spaniards.  Knighted in 1709 he was comptroller of the navy from 1715-18, and a lord commissioner of the admiralty, 1718-33. During this time he was in command at Gibraltar and in the Baltic, retiring in 1742 as first lord of the admiralty.
• WAGHORN, Thomas (1800-50).  English traveller. He entered the navy in 1812 and joined the Bengal pilot service in 1819, later serving in the Burmese war, 1824. His experience in using steamboats  turned his attention to using a short toute to India by steam, and in 1829 he undetook to take dispatches to India via the Red Sea and back within 3 months. The steamer from Bombay failing to meet him,  he completed his journey in a dhow in the Red Sea, thus completing his project.  It led to the establishment of a trans-Egyptian route to India, the land journey from Cairo to Suez being made possible through the work done by Waghorn fraternising with the Arabs.  By 1842 he was promoted to a lieutenant for his services, (though he had left the navy by then), and the system was in regular operation.  Waghorn ran a successful business in connexion with the route he had opened up.
• WAGNER, Adolf (1835-1917).  German economist.  He held professorships successively in Vienna, Hamburg, Dorpat, Freiburg and Berlin, and was elected to the Prussian parliament in 1882 and entered the upper chamber in 1910.  Co-founder of a league for the practical application of the Bismarckian principles of socal and financial reforms, Wagner was the most famous member of the new realist school of economics.  His chief work was his Grundlegung der politischen Okonomie, 1876.
• WAGNER, Helferich Siegfried Richard (1869-1930). German musician.  Son of the great composer, he first studied architecture and designed the List monument at Bayreuth, but later turned his attention to music and studied  1894 under Humperdinck.  He became active at the Bayreuth Festival, and on the retirement of his mother Cosima, its control passed into his hands. His numerous compositions, mainly operas, were well received, but he was better known as a conductor.  His operas include Der Baronheuter, 1899; Der Kobold, 1904; Sternengebol, 1908; Der Heiden Konig, 1915; and Der Schmied von Marienberg, 1920.
• WAGNER, Rudolf [1805-64].  German physiologist.  He studied at the Jardin des Plantes, and became professor of zoology and anatomy at Erlangen, 1832 and at Gottongen, 1842.  He is chiefly known for his study of the physiology of generation and his discovery of the germinal vesicle of the human ovum.  He also did valuable work on the nervous system and on the human brain, and his chief production was Handworterbuch der Physiologie,  1843-52.
• WAGNER, Wilhelm Richard [ 1813-1883].  His mother sent him toKreuzschule, where he proved his genius in the poetry an dramas he wrote.  About 1820 he began to teach himself music and when the family moved from Dresden to Leipzig he studied under Gottlieb Muller.  10 years later he studied at Leipzig University.  He was appointed chorus master at Wurzburg in 1833 and later held posts at Magdeburg and  elsewhere.  In this time he wrote 2 operas, several overtures and an unfinished symphony.  In 1836 he married an actress, Minna  Planer.  He was kapellmeister at Riga 18 -39, and while there finished Reinzi.   He then tried to find work in London, and Boulogne, finally settling in Paris for three years in extreme poverty.  Rienzi was produced at Dresden in 1842, and led to the production in 1843 of The Flying Dutchman.  The Same Year He was appointed conductor at Dresden.  Under his direction Tannhauser was produced in 1845.  It's production by Liszt in 1849 resulted in the friendship of the two men.  He wrote other operas but a publishing venture in 1849 depleted his finances even further.  He was forced into exile later that year following the failure of the Revolution.  He lived first in Zurich, then Paris, only the generosity of Liszt kept him alive.  Following the production of Lohengrin in 1850 which he directed, he threw himself into his work.  In 1855 he was engaged to work with the London Philaharmonic orchestra.  Tristan und Isolde was finished in 1857.  It was so exacting that an attempt to produce it was abandoned in 1861 after 50 rehearsals.  The production of Tannhauser in Paris led to a hostile demonstration which led the management to withdraw it after three performances.  This made him a national hero in Germany which led to the ban of exile being lifted.  He returned to Germany and published his two complete Ring dramas, but his insolvency caused him to flee  to Switzerland in 1864.  Finally a pension and patronage by Ludwig of Bavaria let him live in prosperity and honor for the rest of his life. Tristan und Isolde was produced at Munich in 1865 and Die Meistersinger von Nuremberg, in 1868.  He then gave himself up to the completion of Siegfried and of Gotterdammerung.  In 1872 he had completed the whole cycleof  Der Ring des Nibelungen.  A special festival theater was built at Bayreuth where this work was performed.  Artistically it was a success but a financial failure.  To lessen the huge deficit he gave a series of concerts in London in 1877.  His Parsifal was produced at Bayreuth in 1882.  This was so successful that money was set aside to finance the Bayreuth festival, now a yearly  event.  His first wife had died in 1866.  In 1870 he married Cosima von Bulow, an illegitimate daughter of Liszt.  It was a happy marriage.  He died in Venice
• WAINEWRIGHT, Thomas Griffitths (1794-1852).  English poisoner.  He became a journalist and an art critic.  He forged an order upon the Bank of England in 1826, and in 1828 went to live with a bachelor uncle, who died suddenly and left Wainewright all his property.  In 1830 his mother-in-law died as suddenly, while immediately afterwards her unmarried duaghter Helen, whom Wainewright had insured for several thousand pounds, also died.  Wainewright's claim being disputed by the insurance company, he fled to Boulogne in 1831, and on his return in 1837 he was arrested for the forgery of 1826, and sentenced to a lifelong transportation to Van Dieman's Land.  He died in hospital at Hobart in 1852.   He was drawn by dDckens as Slinken, in Hunted Down, and in Buylwer Lytton's Lucretia.  There is little doubt that he poisoned his uncle, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law with strychnine, but legal proof was lacking.
• WAITZ, Georg (1813-86). German historian.  He came under the influence of Ranke, and in 1842 became professor at Kiel, and in 1847 at Gottingen.  Elected to the Frankfort parliament in 1848, he was appointed chief editor of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, in Berlin, 1875.  Waitz was an authority on the customs of the early Teutonic peoples and wrote German Emperors from charlemagne to Maximilian, 1872; Foundations of Politics, 1862, and many other works.
• WAKEFIELD,Edward Gibbon (1796-1862). English colonist.He was attached to the British legations at Turin, 1814-16, and Paris, 1820-26, but ruined his diplomatic career by abducting an heiress in 1826, for which he was imprisoned for 3 years.  While in  prison he published a pamphlet suggesting improvements in the methods of allocating land to the colonists in Australia, and on his release he wrote a book on capital punishment, which had an appreciable influence on the improvement of the English criminal law.  Shortly afterwards he was appointed manager of the South Australian Company, and he played an important part in the colonization of the territory 1836.  He then became managing director of the New Zealand Association, acting simultaneously as secretary to the 1st earl of Durham in Canada.  Through his efforts Britain anticipated France in annexing New Zealand, and he was mainly responsible for the settlement of Canterbury.  He was elected to the first New Zealand parliament, 1854, and died at Welling, New Zealand.
• WAKEFIELD, Gilbert (1756-1801).  British scholar.  He adopted Unitarian doctrines, and became an advocate of the principles of the French Revolution, being in 1799 sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for seditious writing.  A classical scholar of great repute, he published editions of Horace, Bion, and Moschus, and Lucretius, and his other works include The Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion, 1789, and An Examination of thomas Paine's Age of Reason.
• WAKLEY, Thomas (1795-1862).  English surgeon. He qualified for the Royal College of Surgeons, 1817, and established a practice in Regent Street, London.  In 1823 he founded The Lancet, using this journal to denounce various abuses in the medical world, to expose cases of careless surgery in hospitals, and generally to give publicity on every department of medical practice.  He even attacked the Royal College of Surgeons for its conservative and obstructionist tactics, and in 1851 began in The Lancet exposures of food impurities and adulterations.  Wakley, who was a Radical M.P., 1835-52, was one of the most untiring of men in his efforts to promote a better medical service, and was indirectly instrumental in saving the life and health of thousands.
•  WALAFRID (c.8080849)  German writer. A native of Swabia, he became abbot of Reichenau in 838.  Exiled for his antagonism to the emperor Louis I, he was allowed to return in 842.  His chief works were Glosa Ordinaria, glosses of explanations of the Biblical text;  a life of St Gall in rhyme; poems dedicated to princes and dignitaries of the empire; and a poem, his best known work, entitled Hortulus, in which he describes the uses to which various herbs may be put.
• WALCOTT, Charles Doolittle (1850-1927).  American scientist.  He became assistant geologist on the American geological survey in 1879, being appointed director in 1894.  He vastly extended and reorganised the survey.  He helped to found the Carnegie Institute, of which he was the first secretary, 1902-05, and he was secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 until his death.  He was also president of the National Academy of Sciences, 1917-23.  An eminent palaeontologist, he made valuable discoveries of fossils in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia.
• WALDECK, Georg Friedrich, Prince of (1620-92).  German soldier.  He spent his first 20 years' service in the armies of Brandenburg, Sweden, Hanover and the Netherlands, distinguishing himself as a commander and a strategist.  He was raised to the rank of a prince of the empire in 1682, and shortly afterwards became field-marshal. He is chiefly remembered for his defeat of the Turks, and for his victory over the French at Fleurus in 1690.
• WALDECK-ROUSSEAU, Pierre Marie Rene Ernest (18446-1904).   French statesman.  He became a barrister, was mayor of Nantes, 1870, and in 1879 entered the chamber of deputies.  He was Minister of the Interior, 1881-82 and 1882-85, and in 1884 was instrumental in securing the recognition of trade unions in France.  From 1889 to 1894, he practiced in Paris as a barrister, making a deep impression with his brilliant defence, of de Lesseps in the Panama trial, 1894.  Entering the Senate, 1894,he unsuccessfully contested the presidency of the republic, 1895, and became premier 1899.  His administration was marked by the revision of the Dreyfus judgment, 1899, measures against religious orders, 1901, and peaceful suppression of anti-republican movements, as well as all the Creusot strikes. Waldeck-Rousseau adopted a conciliatory tone towards his opponents, and was responsible for the passage of the amnesty bill of 1900.
• WALDEGRAVE, Earl.  title born by the Waldegrave family since 1729.  Sir Edward Waldegrave (d.1561) was an important figure at the court of Mary, England, who granted him the manor of Chewton, Somerset.  His grandson, Edward(d.c.1648),  distinguished himself as a royalist leader and was made a baronet, 1643; his grandson Henry (d.1689), was created a baron in 1686.  The latter's son, James (d.1741), who was ambassador in Vienna and Paris, was made an earl in 1729.  His eldest son, James (1715-63), the 2nd earl was governor to George III when prince of Wales. The 10th earl, William (1882-1933), was succeeded by his uncle Rev. Henry Noel Waldegrave (b.1854), the posthumous younger son of the 8th earl.  The country seat is at Chewton Priory, near Bath, and the earl's eldest son bears the courtesy title of viscount Chewton.  The  family of Waldegrave also bears the title of Baron Radstock, conferred in 1800 upon William (1753-1825), second son of the 3rd earl, for  his services in the navy. 
• WALDEMAR.  name of 4 kings of Denmark.  Waldemar 1 (1131-82), known as the Great, was elected king in 1157 after over a century of chaos had overwhelmed the country.  He defeated the pagan tribes of the Baltic coast, suppressed piracy, and raised  Denmark to a state of great prosperity.  His chief Minister was Absalon.  Waldemar II (1170-1241),  youngest son of Waldemar I succeeded his brother Canute VI in 1202.  He extended his rule, over the German and Wendish territories along the Baltic, taking Prussia, Samland and Estonia.  Captured by a German vassal in 1223, he was only released after surrendering his German conquests; and he was severely defeated at Bornhoved, 1227, while attempting to recover these losses.  His name of the Legislator derives from his important codification of Danish law.  Waldemar III (1314-64) became king in 1326 in place of Christopher II, but was dethroned in 1330 and in 1340 was obliged to cede Schleswig to his uncle Gerhard III of Holstein.  Waldemar IV (1320-75) the youngest son of Christopher II became king in 1340;  he was known as Atterdag ("another day" in reference to his maxim that a man should bide his time).  He sold Estonia, 1346, and was forced after being defeated by Sweden and the Hanse towns to make a humiliating peace at Stralsund in 1370.
• WALDEN, Roger (D.1406).  English prelate.  At first, a priest in Jersey 1371, he later held several livings in England and, securing the favor of the court became archdeacon of Winchester in 1387.  Appointed bailiff, of Guisnes, 1391, and treasurer Calais 1387-92, he became secretary of Richard II and in 1395 treasurer of England. Three years later he became Archbishop of Canterbury, but was ejected when Arundel return to power 1399.  The latter, however made him Bishop of London in 1405.  Walden was praised by friends and foes alike for his moderation and goodness.
• WALDERSEE, Alfred, Count Von (1832-1904).  German soldier.  He saw his first active service in the war against Austria in 1866, fought in the Franco Prussian war, and in 1881 was made Moltke's chief assistant.  In 1898 he succeeded Moltke as chief of the general staff, and in 1900 being then a field marshal, he was selected to command the allied  troops in the Boxer rebellion.  He took no part in the march on Peking, and returned to his duties as inspector general at Hanover. 
• WALDEYER-HARTZ, Wilhelm von (1836-1921).  German anatomist.  He was made director in 1872 of the Strasbourg anatomical Institute, and held a similar position in Berlin, 1883-1917.  His chief work was done on the anatomy of the nerves, especially   of the ear, nose and throat, and he wrote standard works on these subjects.
• WALDMULLER, Ferdinand Georg (1793-1865).  Austrian painter.  He took to art against the wishes of his parents, who disinherited him, and was for a time engaged in menial artistic work.  His portraits particularly in miniature made his name and he finally became famous for his pictures of Austrian life in town & country.
• WALDSTEIN, Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel, Count (1762-1823).  German aesthete.  The youngest son of the Graf Waldstein and Wartemberg bon Dux, he was a member of the German Order, 1786-1812, when he left to marry.  At Bonn in 1797 he met Beethoven whose close friend he became and who dedicated to him 1805, the pianoforte sonata, opus 53 called the Waldstein Sonata.  Waldstein also suggested the air on which Beethoven based a set of 12 variations composed in 1792.
• WALE, Samuel (d.1786).  English artist.  He became famous as a designer of vignettes for booksellers, and was responsible for the illustrations of the Compleat Angler, Goldsmith's Traveller, and many other notable  books.  he was an original member of the R.A., 1768, where he became the first professor of perspective, and in 1782, librarian.
• WALERAND, Robert (d. 1273).  English lawyer.  A knight of the royal household, and a friend of Henry III, he was made sheriff  of Gloucestershire, 1246.  He was seneschal of Gascony, 1252, and went to Rome, to accept for Henry's son Edmund the crown of Sicily from the pope.  He later became one of the principal justices in the country, and served also as a diplomat, going to Germany, 1256, and making the peace with France, 1257.  He was again ambassador to arrange the peace terms with France, 1262.   He was rewarded with the wardenship of the Cinque ports and was keeper of the great seal, 1262.  He held Bristol for the King against the barons, 1263, and was appointed a justice in Wales.  At the time of his death he was guardian of the crown lands.