OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Welf

See also House of Welf on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELF or GUELPH, a princely family of Germany, descended from Count Warin of Altorf (8th century), whose son Isenbrand is said to have named his family Welfen, i.e. whelps. From his son Welf I. (d. 824) were descended the kings of Upper Burgundy and the elder German line of Welf. Welf III. (d. 1055) obtained the duchy of Carinthia and the March of Verona. With him the elder line became extinct, but his grandson in the female line, Welf IV. (as duke, Welf I.), founded the younger line, and became duke of Bavaria in 1070. Henry the Black (d. 1126), by his marriage with a daughter of Magnus, duke of Saxony, obtained half of the latter’s hereditary possessions, including Lüneburg, and his son Henry the Proud (q.v.) inherited by marriage the emperor Lothair’s lands in Brunswick, &c., and received the duchy of Saxony. The power which the family thus acquired, and the consequent rivalry with the house of Hohenstaufen, occasioned the strife of Guelphs and Ghibellines (q.v.) in Italy. Henry the Lion lost the duchies of Bavaria and Saxony by his rebellion in 1180, and Welf VI. (d. 1191) left his hereditary lands in Swabia and his Italian possessions to the emperor Henry VI. Thus, although one of the Welfs reigned as the emperor Otto IV., there remained to the family nothing but the lands inherited from the emperor Lothair, which were made into the duchy of Brunswick in 1235. Of the many branches of the house of Brunswick that of Wolfenbüttel became extinct in 1884, and that of Lüneburg received the electoral dignity of Hanover in 1692, and founded the Hanoverian dynasty of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714. For its further history see Hanover. The Hanoverian legitimists in the German Reichstag are known as Welfen.
See Sir A. Halliday, History of the House of Guelph (1821); R. D. Lloyd, Origin of the Guelphs; F. Schmidt, Die Anfänge des welfischen Geschlechts (Hanover, 1900).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wellhausen, Julius

See also Julius Wellhausen on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS (1844– ), German biblical scholar and Orientalist, was born at Hameln on the Weser, Westphalia, on the 17th of May 1844. Having studied theology at the university of Göttingen under Heinrich Ewald, he established himself there in 1870 as privat-docent for Old Testament history. In 1872 he was appointed professor ordinarius of theology in Greifswald. Resigning in 1882 owing to conscientious scruples, he became professor extraordinarius of oriental languages in the faculty of philology at Halle, was elected professor ordinarius at Marburg in 1885, and was transferred to Göttingen in 1892. Wellhausen made his name famous by his critical investigations into Old Testament history and the composition of the Hexateuch, the uncompromising scientific attitude he adopted in testing its problems bringing him into antagonism with the older school of biblical interpreters. The best known of his works are De gentibus et familiis Judaeis (Göttingen, 1870); Der Text der Bücher Samuelis untersucht (Göttingen, 1871); Die Pharisäer und Sadducäer (Greifswald, 1874); Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Berlin, 1882; Eng. trans., 1885; 5th German edition, 1899; first published in 1878 as Geschichte Israels); Muhammed in Medina (Berlin, 1882); Die Komposition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher des Alten Testaments (1889, 3rd ed. 1899); Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte (1894, 4th ed. 1901); Reste arabischen Heidentums (1897); Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz (1902); Skizzen und Vorarbeiten (1884–1899); and new and revised editions of F. Bleek’s Einleitung in das Alte Testament (4-6, 1878–1893). In 1906 appeared Die christliche Religion, mit Einschluss der israelitisch-jüdischen Religion, in collaboration with A. Jülicher, A. Harnack and others. He also did useful and interesting work as a New Testament commentator. He published Das Evangelium Marci, übersetzt und erklärt in 1903, Das Evangelium Matthäi and Das Evangelium Lucae in 1904, and Einleitung in die drei ersten Evangelien in 1905.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wellingborough

See also Wellingborough on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELLINGBOROUGH, a market town in the eastern parliamentary division of Northamptonshire, England, 631/2 m. N.N.W. from London by the Midland railway; served also by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 18,412. It lies on the declivity of a hill near the junction of the Ise with the Nene, in a pleasant well-wooded district. The church of St Luke is a beautiful budding with Norman and Early English portions, but is mainly Decorated, with a western tower and spire. The grammar-schools, founded in 1594 and endowed with the revenues of a suppressed gild, include a school of the second and a school of the third grade, the former a building of red brick in the Renaissance style erected in 18S0, and the latter an old Elizabethan structure. Another educational endowment is Freeman’s school, founded by John Freeman in 1711. There are also several charities. The principal public building is the corn exchange. The town is of some importance as a centre of agricultural trade; but the staple industry is in leather. A great impulse to the prosperity of the town was given by the introduction of the boot and shoe trade, especially the manufacture of uppers. Smelting, brewing and iron-founding are also carried on, as well as the manufacture of portable steam-engines, and iron ore is raised in the vicinity.
In 948 Edred gave the church at Wellingborough to Crowland Abbey, and the grant was confirmed by King Edgar in 966. In the reign of Edward II. the abbot was lord in full. The town received the grant of a market in 1201. It was formerly famed for the chalybeate springs to which it owes its name, and in 1621 was visited by Charles I. and his queen, who resided in tents during a whole season while taking the waters. It was after its almost total destruction by fire in 1738 that the town was built on its present site on the hill.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Welles, Gideon

See also Gideon Welles on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELLES, GIDEON (1802-1878), American political leader, was born at Glastonbury, Connecticut, on the 1st of July 1802. He studied for a time at Norwich University, Vermont, but did not graduate. From 1826 to 1837 he edited the Hartford Times, making it the official organ of the Jacksonian Democracy in southern New England. He served in the state House of Representatives in 1827, 1829-30, 1832 and 1834-35, was state comptroller in 1835 and 1842-43, was postmaster at Hartford in 1835-42, and was chief of the bureau of provisions and clothing in the Navy Department at Washington in 1846-1849. Leaving the Democratic party on the Kansas-Nebraska issue, he assisted in the formation of the Republican party in Connecticut, and was its candidate for governor in 1856; he was a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1856 and 1860. On the inauguration of President Lincoln in 1861 he was appointed secretary of the navy, a position which he held until the close of President Andrew Johnson's administration in 1869. Although deficient in technical training, he handled with great skill the difficult problems which were presented by the Civil War. The number of naval ships was increased between 1861 and 1865 from 90 to 670, the officers from 1300 to 6700, the seamen from 7500 to 51,500, and the annual expenditure from $12,000,000 to $123,000,000; important changes were made in the art of naval construction, and the blockade of the Confederate ports was effectively maintained. Welles supported President Johnson in his quarrel with Congress, took part in the Liberal Republican movement of 1872, and returning to the Democratic party, warmly advocated the election of Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. He died at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 11th of February 1878.
In 1874 Welles published Lincoln and Seward, in which he refutes the charge that Seward dominated the Administration during the Civil War. His Diary, which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (1909-1911), is extremely valuable for the study of the Civil War and Reconstruction. See also Albert Welles, History of the Welles Family (New York, 1876).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wellesley

See also Wellesley, Massachusetts and Wellesley College on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELLESLEY, a township of Norfolk county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 14 m. S.W. of Boston. Pop. (1800) 3600, (1900) 5072, of whom 1306 were foreign-born and 17 were negroes, (1910 census) 5413. Area, 10.4 sq. m. Wellesley is served by the Boston & Albany railway, and is connected with Natick (3 m. W.), Newton, Needham, Boston and Worcester by electric lines. The north-eastern boundary of the township is the Charles river, which divides it from the city of Newton. The surface of the township is hilly and abundantly wooded, with many small streams and lakes; the two principal villages are Wellesley Hills and Wellesley, and smaller villages are Wellesley Falls, Wellesley Farms and Wellesley Fells. The highest point is Maugus Hill (416 ft.), near Wellesley Hills village. In the northern part of Wellesley and extending into Weston is a large forest tract known as “The Hundreds.” Within the township are parts of two of the reservations of the Metropolitan Park system, 66·07 acres of the Charles river reservation, and 4·58 acres of Hemlock Gorge. Hunnewell Park is the former home of Dr W. T. G. Morton, who discovered the anaesthetic properties of sulphuric ether. West of Wellesley village, among the hills, lie Morses Pond and Lake Waban, on which are beautiful Italian gardens and (on the north side) the buildings and extensive grounds (350 acres) of Wellesley College (undenominational, 1875) for women, which was established by Henry Towle Durant (1822–1881), a prominent Boston lawyer. In 1910 the college had 130 instructors and 1319 students. The library (65,200 volumes in 1910) was endowed by Eben N. Horsford, the chemist and ethnologist; it contains a library of American linguistics collected by Major J. W. Powell and Mr Horsford, and the Frances Pearson Plimpton library of early Italian literature. There are about 30 buildings, of which twelve are residential halls or cottages. Instruction is in classical, literary and scientific branches, and the degrees of A.B. and A.M. are awarded.
Wellesley was settled about 1640, being then within the limits of Dedham. When the township of Needham was set off from Dedham in 1711, Wellesley was included within the new territory, and in 1774 was organized as the west parish of Needham or West Needham. In 1881 it was incorporated under its present name.
See J. E. Fiske in D. H. Hurd’s History of Norfolk County (Boston, 1884).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weldon, Walter

See also Walter Weldon on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELDON, WALTER (1832–1885), English technical chemist, was born at Loughborough on the 31st of October 1832. In 1854 he began to work as a journalist in London in connexion with the Dial, which was afterwards incorporated in the Morning Star, and in 1860 he started a monthly magazine, Weldon’s Register of Facts and Occurrences relating to Literature, the Sciences and the Arts, which was discontinued after about three years' existence. Though he was without practical knowledge of the science, Weldon turned to industrial chemistry, and in the course of a few years took out the patents which led to his “manganese-regeneration” process (see Chlorine). This was put into operation about 1869, and by 1875 it was being used by almost every chlorine manufacturer of importance throughout Europe. He continued to work at the production of chlorine in connexion with the processes of alkali-manufacture (q.v.), and became a leading authority on the subject, but none of his later proposals—not even the Weldon-Pechiney magnesia process, which was established on a commercial scale only a year or two before his death—met with equal success. He died at Burstow, Surrey, on the 20th of September 1885. He professed Swedenborgian principles and was a believer in spiritualism.
His son, Walter Frank Raphael Weldon (1860–1906), was appointed in 1899 Linacre professor of comparative anatomy at Oxford.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Welhaven, Johann Sebastian Cammermeyer

See also Johan Sebastian Welhaven on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WELHAVEN, JOHANN SEBASTIAN CAMMERMEYER (1807–1873), Norwegian poet and critic, was born at Bergen, the son of a pastor, in 1807. He first studied theology, but from 1828 onwards devoted himself to literature. In 1840 he became reader and subsequently professor of philosophy at Christiania, and delivered a series of impressive lectures on literary subjects. In 1836 he visited France and Germany; and in 1858 he went to Italy to study archaeology. His influence was extended by his appointment as director of the Society of Arts. He died at Christiania on the 21st of October 1873. Welhaven made his name as the representative of conservatism in Norwegian literature. In a violent attack on Wergeland’s poetry he opposed the theories of the extreme nationalists. He desired to see Norwegian culture brought into line with that of other European countries, and he himself followed the romantic tradition, being, most closely influenced by J. L. Heiberg. He represented clearness and moderation against the extravagances of Wergeland. He gave an admirable practical exposition of his aesthetic creed in the sonnet cycle Norges Daemring (1834). He published a volume of Digte in 1839; and in 1845 Nyere Digte. The collections of old Norse poetry made by Asbjörnsen and Moe influenced his talent, and he first showed his full powers as a poet in Nyere Digte. His descriptive poetry is admirable, but his best work was inspired by his poems on old Norse subjects, in which he gives himself unreservedly to patriotic enthusiasm. Other poems followed in 1848, 1851 and 1859.
His critical work includes Ewald og de norske Digtere (1863), On Ludwig Holberg (1854). Welhaven’s Samlede Skrifter were published in 8 vols. at Copenhagen (1867–1869).
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wandering Minstrels

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Waring, William

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Walther, Johann Jacob

​WALTHER, Johann Jacob, violinist and composer, was born in 1650 at Witterda, a village near Erfurt in Thuringia. The name of his teacher is unknown, but as he styles himself on the title of one of his works 'Italian Secretary to the Elector of Mayence,' it appears probable that he had acquired his knowledge of the language in Italy, and therefore had some connection with the school of violin-players of that country. We find him first as a member of the band of the Elector of Saxony at Dresden, and later on attached to the court of the Elector of Mayence. The place and date of his death are unknown. Two sets of violin compositions of his have been preserved:
* Scherzi da Violino solo, con il Basso Continuo per l'Organo ò Cimbalo, accompagnablle anche con una Viola ò Liuto, di Giovanni Giacomo Walther, Primo Vlolinista di Camera di sua Altezza Elettorale di Passonia mdclxxvi.
* Hortulus Chelicus, uni Violino, dnabus, tribus et quatuor subinde chordis simuli sonantibus harmonia modulanti. Studiosa varietate consitus a Johanne Jacobo Walthero, Eminentiss. Celsitud. Elector. Maguntin. Secretario Italico. Maguntiae, sumptibus Lud. Bourgeat. Academi. Bibliopol. 1688.
[ P. D. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Waltz, Gustavus

​WALTZ, Gustavus, a German, who seems to have acted as Handel's cook, and after some time to have come out as a singer. He made his first attempt on the boards as Polyphemus in Handel's 'Acis and Galatea,' when it was performed as an 'English Pastoral Opera' under Arne, at the 'new English theatre in the Haymarket,' May 17, 1832 [App. p.815 "1732"], showing that his voice was a large bass. Seven years later (1739) he and Reinhold sang 'The Lord is a man of war' at the performance of 'Israel in Egypt,' their names being pencilled by Handel over the duet. He also sang Abinoam in 'Deborah,' Abner in 'Athaliah,' and Saul, on the production of those oratorios. His portrait was painted by Hauck, and engraved by Müller. He is seated with a cello, a pipe, and a pot of beer on the table beside him. It now belongs to Mr. J. W. Taphouse, of Oxford, and is exhibited in the Loan Collection of the Inventions Exhibition, 1885.
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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wanda

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wanhal, John Baptist

​WANHAL—in English publications VANHALL—John Baptist, a contemporary of Haydn's (1732–1809), was of Dutch extraction, but born at Nechanicz in Bohemia May 12, 1739. His instructors were two local worthies, Kozák and Erban, and his first instruments the organ and violin. His early years were passed in little Bohemian towns near the place of his birth. At one of these he met a good musician, who advised him to stick to the violin, and also to write for it; both which he did with great assiduity. In 1760 he was taken to Vienna by the Countess Schaffgotsch, and here his real progress began; he studied (under Dittersdorf), read all the works he could get at, played incessantly, composed with great enthusiasm, and what was then thought extravagance, and was soon taken up by many of the nobility. One of these, the Freiherr Riesch, sent him to Italy for a long journey, of which he took full advantage. On his return to Vienna he fell into a state of mental depression, which for some time affected him greatly. It was thus that Burney found him in 1772 ('Present State,' etc., p. 358). Life in Vienna then was very much what it was 50 years later, and Wanhal's existence was passed, like Beethoven's or Schubert's, in incessant work, varied by visits to Hungary or Croatia, where the Count Erdödy, the immediate predecessor of Beethoven's friend, received him. He died in Vienna in 1813. Though somewhat younger than Haydn his music arrived in England first. Burney mentions this fact (Hist. iv. 599) and speaks of his symphonies as 'spirited, natural, and unaffected,' and of the quartets and other music for violins of this excellent composer as deserving a place among the first productions in which unity of melody, pleasing harmony, and a free and manly style are constantly preserved.' Burney's expressions about Haydn in the next paragraph show, however, how far higher he placed him than Wanhal or any other composer of that time.
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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Wanless, Thomas

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ward, John

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Warnots, Henry

​WARNOTS, Henry, born July 11, 1832, at Brussels, was taught music first by his father, and in 1849 became a pupil at the Brussels Conservatoire, in harmony, pianoforte-playing, and singing. In 1856 he appeared in opera at Liège as a light tenor, and was engaged for a short period at the Opera Comique, Paris. He next sang at Strassburg, and on Jan. 24, 1865, an operetta of his composition, 'Une Heure du Mariage,' was performed there. In 1867 he was engaged at the National Theatre, Brussels, and in October sang in Flemish the hero's part in De Miry's 'Franz Ackermann.' In December of the same year he obtained a professorship at the Conservatoire, and retired from the stage. In 1869 he was appointed Director of the orchestra of the Brussels City Musical Society, and in 1870 he founded a school of music at St. Josse-ten-Noode-Schaernbeeck, a suburb of Brussels, and of which he is still Director. In addition to the operetta, M. Warnots has composed a patriotic cantata performed in 1867 at Ghent. His daughter and pupil,
[ A. C. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thorne, Edward

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomas, Theodore

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomasschule

[ R. L. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomas, John

​THOMAS, John (known in Wales as 'Pencerdd Gwalia,' i.e. chief of the Welsh minstrels, a title conferred on him at the Aberdare Eisteddfod of 1861), a very distinguished harpist, was born at Bridgend, Glamorganshire, on St. David's Day, 1826. He played the piccolo when only four, and when eleven won a harp at an Eisteddfod. In 1840 he was placed by Ada, Countess of Lovelace (Byron's daughter), at the Royal Academy, where he studied under J. B. Chatterton (harp), C. J. Read (piano), and Lucas and Cipriani Potter (composition). He remained at the Academy for about eight years, during which time he composed a harp concerto, a symphony, several overtures, quartets, two operas, etc. On leaving the Academy he was made in succession Associate, Honorary Member, and Professor of the Harp. In 1851 he played in the orchestra of Her Majesty's Opera, and in the same year went a concert tour on the continent, a practice he continued during the winter months of the next ten years, playing successively in France, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Italy. In 1862 Mr. Thomas published a valuable collection of Welsh melodies, and in the same year gave with great success the first concert of Welsh music in London. In 1871 he was appointed conductor of a Welsh Choral Union, which for six years gave six concerts annually. In 1872, on the death of Mr. J. B. Chatterton, he was appointed Harpist to the Queen, and is now teacher of the harp at the Royal College of Music.
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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thorndike, Herbert

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomas, Arthur

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomas, Lewis

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomson, John

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# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thomas, Harold

​THOMAS, Harold, born at Cheltenham, July 8, 1834, a favourite pupil of Sterndale Bennett, under whom he was placed at the Royal Academy of Music at a very early age. His other masters were Cipriani Potter (theory), and Henry Blagrove (violin). He made his first appearance as a pianist at a Royal Academy Concert, May 25, 1850, and after this appeared frequently at the same concerts, both as pianist and composer. In 1858, Mr. Thomas played before the Queen and Prince Consort at Windsor, and in 1864 played Bennett's First Concerto at the Philharmonic. A few years later, he retired from public life and devoted himself to teaching. Mr. Thomas is now Professor of the piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music. His compositions include many original piano pieces, some songs, many arrangements, etc., and three overtures for orchestra:—
[ W. B. S. ]
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gillies, Margaret

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GILLIES, MARGARET.
This lady is a native of Scotland, where her early years were ​passed; she manifested, while yet a child, a great talent for drawing, and when a change in her circumstances rendered it necessary for her to seek some mode of subsistence, she determined on becoming a professional artist. Under the teaching of Frederick Cruikshank, and afterwards of Henri Scheffer, of Paris, where she had access to the studio of his celebrated brother, Ary Scheffer, she attained great proficiency as a portrait painter, in which line of art she has taken a very high stand. Her portraits are generally what may indeed be called "speaking likenesses," full of thought, feeling, and expression. The good position which Miss Gillies quickly attained at the Royal Academy, she has steadily maintained and improved. The old society of painters in water colours, has elected her a member, and to the exhibitions of this institution she has of late years been a constant and valued contributor. She has also exhibited some good paintings in oil, besides her portraits, which shew a high capability for subject pictures.