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Falconer, William

(Encyclopedia)Falconer, William fôkˈnər [key], 1732–69, Scottish poet. The victim of a shipwreck off Greece, he described his ordeal in a long, didactic poem, The Shipwreck (1762). He also wrote (1769) a sourc...

Falkner, William

(Encyclopedia)Falkner, William: see Faulkner, William. ...

Faulkner, William

(Encyclopedia)Faulkner, William, 1897–1962, American novelist, b. New Albany, Miss., one of the great American writers of the 20th cent. Born into an old Southern family named Falkner, he changed the spelling of ...

Ellery, William

(Encyclopedia)Ellery, William, 1727–1820, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Newport, R.I. While a member of the Continental Congress (1776–81, 1783–85)...

Ellis, William

(Encyclopedia)Ellis, William, 1794–1872, English missionary, pioneer of printing in the Pacific. Sent in 1816 to Polynesia as a nonconformist missionary, he set up at Tahiti the first printing press in the South ...

Elphinstone, William

(Encyclopedia)Elphinstone, William ĕlˈfĭnstən, –stōnˌ [key], 1431–1514, Scottish prelate, founder of the Univ. of Aberdeen. He was trained in the law and was employed on many political missions before bec...

Savery, William

(Encyclopedia)Savery, William sāˈvərē [key], 1721–87, American cabinetmaker. He is believed to have lived in Philadelphia from c.1740. Savery is noted for his artistic and original interpretation of 18th-cent...

Schuman, William

(Encyclopedia)Schuman, William sho͞oˈmən [key], 1910–92, American composer, b. New York City. Schuman taught at Sarah Lawrence College (1935–45), and while president of Juilliard (1945–62) he helped initia...

Rockefeller, William

(Encyclopedia)Rockefeller, William, 1841–1922, American financier, b. Tioga co., N.Y.; brother of John D. Rockefeller. He joined (1865) his brother in the oil-refining business. William was a successful stock mar...

Barnes, William

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, William, 1801–86, English poet and philologist. After a career as a schoolmaster, he took holy orders in 1847. He is best known for his poems in Dorset dialect, which began to appear in loca...