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Frederick William IV

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William IV, 1795–1861, king of Prussia (1840–61), son and successor of Frederick William III. A romanticist and a mystic, he conceived vague schemes of reform based on a revival of the m...

Wirt, William

(Encyclopedia)Wirt, William wûrt [key], 1772–1834, U.S. Attorney General and author, b. Bladensburg, Md. He had little formal schooling but was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1792. His first book was an anonymo...

Zorach, William

(Encyclopedia)Zorach, William zŏrˈäk [key], 1887–1966, American sculptor, b. Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States when he was four and settled near Cleveland. After studying at the Cleveland Sc...

Langland, William

(Encyclopedia)Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor...

Runciman, Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Runciman, Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount rŭnˈsĭmən [key], 1870–1949, British shipping magnate and public official. He inherited his father's large shipping business. As a Liberal he served in Par...

Craigavon, James Craig, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Craigavon, James Craig, 1st Viscount krāgăvˈən [key], 1871–1940, Irish statesman. He worked with Edward Carson in rousing the Protestants of Ulster against Home Rule in the crisis preceding Worl...

Coxe, William

(Encyclopedia)Coxe, William, 1762–1831, American pomologist, b. Philadelphia. His experiments and his book, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit-Trees and the Management of Orchards and Cider (1817), had a pronounc...

Whipple, William

(Encyclopedia)Whipple, William, 1730–85, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Kittery, Maine. Whipple, who had been a sea captain, was a merchant of Portsmout...

Whitehead, William

(Encyclopedia)Whitehead, William, 1715–85, English poet and playwright. He wrote several plays based on ancient Greek models, including Creusa, Queen of Athens (1754). Whitehead was appointed poet laureate in 175...

Nottingham, Heneage Finch, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Nottingham, Heneage Finch, 1st earl of , nŏtˈĭngəm [key], 1621–82, lord chancellor of England. He took no part in the politics of the English civil war, but in 1660 he entered Parliament and bec...