Historic figures: W

William Wallace (c. 1270 - 1305) - Scottish patriot and national hero
Barnes Wallis (1887 - 1979) - World War Two aviation engineer, invented the 'bouncing bomb'
Sir Robert Walpole (1676 - 1745) - considered Britain's first prime minister
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) - 20th century artist
George Washington (1732-1799) - American revolutionary, general, first US president
Watson and Crick (1928- ) - discovered structure of DNA, Nobel prize winners
James Watt (1736 - 1819) - 18th-19th century pioneer of steam technology
Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795) - 18th century social reformer, manufacturer
Duke of Wellington (1769 - 1852) - 18th-19th century British general, national hero
Frank Whittle (1907 - 1996) - 20th century pioneer of the jet engine
William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) - 18th-19th century anti-slavery campaigner
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) - Victorian playwright, jailed for his homosexuality
Wilhelm II (1859 - 1941) - kaiser of Germany during World War One, abdicated
John Wilkinson (1728 - 1808) - 18th century pioneer of the use of cast iron
William the Conqueror (c.1028 - c.1087) - first Norman king of England
William II (Rufus) (c.1056 - 1100) - Norman king of England, killed while hunting
William III (of Orange) (1650-1702) - king of England, Scotland, Ireland, deposed James II
William IV (1765-1837) - 19th century king of the United Kingdom
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) - World War One US president, envisioned the League of Nations
Thomas Wolsey (c.1475-1530) - statesman, lord chancellor to Henry VIII
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) - 18th-19th century Romantic poet
Sir Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723) - 17th-18th century architect, built St Paul's Cathedral

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