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Dampier, William

(Encyclopedia)Dampier, William dămˈpēr [key], 1651–1715, English explorer, buccaneer, hydrographer, and naturalist. He fought (1673) in the Dutch War, managed a plantation in Jamaica (1674), and then worked wi...

Courtenay, William

(Encyclopedia)Courtenay, William kôrtˈnē [key], c.1342–1396, English prelate, archbishop of Canterbury (1381–96). He was important for his condemnation of the doctrines of Wyclif and for suppressing the Loll...

Cowper, William

(Encyclopedia)Cowper, William ko͞oˈpər, kouˈ– [key], 1731–1800, English poet. Physically and emotionally unfit for the professional life, he was admitted to the bar but never practiced. After a battle with ...

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...

Dawes, William

(Encyclopedia)Dawes, William, 1745–99, figure in the American Revolution, b. Boston, Mass. On the night of Apr. 18, 1775, Dawes rode from Boston, via Brighton Bridge, to Lexington, warning the countryside of the ...

Alexander, William

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, William, known as Lord Stirling stûrˈlĭng [key], 1726–83, American Revolutionary general, b. New York City. Although the House of Lords rejected his claim to succeed as the 6th earl of...

Colgate, William

(Encyclopedia)Colgate, William kōlˈgāt [key], 1783–1857, American manufacturer and philanthropist, b. England. Arriving (1795) as a youth in the United States, Colgate learned candlemaking in Baltimore and New...

Collins, William

(Encyclopedia)Collins, William, 1721–59, English poet. He was one of the great lyricists of the 18th cent. While he was still at Oxford he published Persian Ecologues (1742), which was written when he was 17. Uns...

Combe, William

(Encyclopedia)Combe, William ko͝om, kōm [key], 1741–1823, English satirist and miscellaneous writer, b. Bristol. His writing was mainly hack work, issued anonymously to avoid seizure of the proceeds by his many...

Claiborne, William

(Encyclopedia)Claiborne, William klāˈbərn [key], c.1587–c.1677, Virginia colonist, b. Westmorland co., England. He emigrated to Virginia in 1621 as official surveyor and then served as secretary of state (1626...