Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dugdale, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Dugdale, Sir William, 1605–86, English antiquarian. His chief works are Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656), The Baronage of England (1675–76), and the greater part of Monasticon Anglicanum (3 vol....

Corcoran, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Corcoran, William Wilson kôrˈkərən [key], 1798–1888, American financier, philanthropist, and art collector, b. Georgetown, D.C. After becoming a successful banker, he retired in 1854 and devoted...

Russell, Lord William

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Lord William, 1639–83, English statesman; younger son of the 1st duke of Bedford. He entered Parliament in 1660. Contempt for the dissolute court and fear of Roman Catholicism and of France...

Godwin, William

(Encyclopedia)Godwin, William, 1756–1836, English author and political philosopher. A minister in his youth, he was, however, plagued by religious doubts and gave up preaching in 1783 for a literary career. His E...

Kelley, William Darrah

(Encyclopedia)Kelley, William Darrah dârˈə [key], 1814–90, American legislator, b. Philadelphia. He was admitted (1841) to the bar and served (1847–56) as judge of the court of common pleas for Philadelphia....

Farlow, William Gilson

(Encyclopedia)Farlow, William Gilson, 1844–1919, American botanist, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1866. His chief contributions were made in the study of cryptogamic and parasitic plants. Many eminent botanists recei...

Bartlett, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bartlett, William Henry, 1800–1854, English painter and illustrator. After four visits to the United States, Bartlett illustrated a book, American Scenery (1840), with panoramic vistas of the Americ...

Channing, William Ellery

(Encyclopedia)Channing, William Ellery, 1780–1842, American Unitarian minister and author, b. Newport, R.I. At 23 he was ordained minister of the Federal St. Congregational Church in Boston, where he served until...

McAdoo, William Gibbs

(Encyclopedia)McAdoo, William Gibbs măkˈədo͞o [key], 1863–1941, American political leader, U.S. secretary of the treasury (1913–18), b. near Marietta, Ga. The son of a prominent Georgia jurist, McAdoo becam...

Cory, William Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Cory, William Johnson, 1823–92, English poet and classicist. He was assistant master at Eton from 1845 to 1872. His verse, of which Ionica (1858) is the best known, consists primarily of imitations ...

Browse by Subject