Another one in First Names First! A chronological list of persons with their first names here. Your “task” is to pick one, follow the Wikipedia link and see what if anything the person in question could contribute your life with. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us – let them!
This time it’s all about William. A name that has been widely used for centuries. There are in fact so many of them that here we present only max three persons with that name per decade.
William II* – Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland (1307)
William Calthorpe* knight/High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk – England (1410)
William Shakespeare* author/playwright – Stratford-upon-Avon, England (1564)
William Adams* 三浦按針 sailor/samurai – Gillingham, Kent, England (1564)
William Hutchinson* founder of Rhode Island – Alford, Lincolnshire, England (1586)
William Arnold* a founding settler in Rhode Island – Ilcherset, Somerset, England (1587)
William Strode*(of_Barrington) cloth merchant/ philanthropist – Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England (1589)
William Blaxton* early settler in New England/first in Boston – Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England (1595)
William Lilly* astrologer – Diseworth, Leicestershire, England (1602)
William Dugard* schoolmaster/printer/writer – Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England (1606)
William Cartwright* poet/dramatist/churchman – Northway, Gloucestershire, England (1611)
William Salmon* English empiric doctor/writer of medical texts - England (1644)
William Penn* Quaker/ founder of Pennsylvania – London, England (1644)
William Carstares* minister of the Church of Scotland/politician – Cathcart, Scotland (1649)
William Phips* ship captain/treasure hunter/first Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay – Nequasset, Massachusetts Bay Colony (1651)
William Kidd* sailor/captain executed for piracy – Dundee, Scotland (1655)
Prince William* the only child (of 17) of Queen Anne to survive infancy – Hampton Court Palace, London, England (1689)
William Hogarth* painter/pictorial satirist/social critic – London, England (1697)
William Cookworthy* pharmacist/innovator/porcelain manufacturer – Kingsbridge, Devon, England (1705)
William Whipple* merchant/ship captain/signer of the Declaration of Independence – Kittery, Maine, British America (1730)
William Williams* merchant/signer of the Declaration of Independence – Lebanon, Connecticut (1731)
William Herschel* astronomer /discoverer of Uranus – Hanover, Holy Roman Empire (1738)
William Chalmers* merchant/freemason/philanthropist – Gothenburg, Sweden (1748)
William Murdoch* engineer/inventor – Cumnock, East Ayshire, Scotland (1754)
William Blake* poet/painter/printmaker – Soho, London, England (1757)
William Thornton* British-American physician/ inventor/ architect (United States Capitol) - Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands (1759)
William IV of the United Kingdom* “Sailor King” whose reign saw several major reforms take place – Buckingham House, England (1765)
William Hill Brown* novelist/author of what is considered the first American novel, The Power of Sympathy – Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America (1765)
William Wallace* mathematician/astronomer/inventor of the eidograph – Dysart, Fife, Scotland (1768)
William Wordsworth* poet – Cockermouth, Cumberland, England (1770)
William Harrison* politician/9usp – Charles City County, Colony of Virginia, British America (1773)
William Henry* chemist/developer of Henry’s Law – Manchester, England (1774)
William John Burchell* explorer/ naturalist/author – Fulham, London, England (1781)
William John Swainson* ornithologist/ entomologist/artist – St Mary Newington, London, England (1789)
William Turner* landscape painter – Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England (1789)
William Cullen Bryant* poet/ journalist/long-time editor of the New York Evening Post – Cummington, MA USA (1794)
William Greene* lieutenant governor – Warwick, RI USA (1797)
William Lassell* merchant/astronomer – Bolton, England (1799-1880)
William Parsons* 3rd Earl of Rosse/astronomer – York, England (1800)
William Harrison Ainsworth* historical novelist – Manchester, England (1805)
William Gladstone* politician/PM – Liverpool, England (1809)
William Avery Rockefeller* father of the Rockefeller clan – Granger, NY USA (1810)
William Makepeace Thackerey* novelist/author – Kolkata, British India (1811)
William H. Webb* shipbuilder/philanthropist – New York, USA (1816)
William H. Osborn* railroad tycoon – Salem, MA USA (1820)
William Siemens* engineer/entrepreneur – Gehrden, German (1823)
William Booth* preacher/ founder of the Salvation Army – Sneinton, Nottingham, England (1829)
William Morris* textile designer/poet/activist – Walthamstow, Essex, England (1834)
William Williams Keen* brain surgeon – Philadelphia, PA USA (1837)
William Henry Perkin* chemist/ entrepreneur – London, England (1838)
William Henry Jackson* painter/photographer of the American West – Keeseville, NY USA (1843)
William “Buffalo Bill ” Cody* scout/bison hunter/showman – Le Claire, Iowa Territory, USA (1846)
William Hoover* entrepreneur/manufacturer of vacuum cleaners – USA (1849)
William Thompson Sedgwick* epidemiologist/key figure in shaping public health in the U.S – West Hartford, CT USA (1855)
William Willett* builder/promoter of Daylight Saving Time – Farnham, Surrey, England (1856)
William Howard Taft* politician/27usp – Cincinnati, OH USA (1857)
William Wrigley Jr.* chewing gum industrialist – Philadelphia, PA USA (1861)
William Randolph Hearst* San Fransisco, California USA (1863)
William Butler Yeats* poet/N – Sandymount, County Dublin, Ireland (1865) pic
William G. Morgan* educator/inventor of volleyball – Lockport, NY USA (1870)
William McMaster Murdoch* First Officer of the RMS Titanic – Dalbeattie, Scotland (1873)
William Aberhart* politician/known as Bible Bill”/Premier of Alberta – Kippen, ON Canada (1878)
William S. Harley* mechanical engineer/businessman – Milwaukee, WI USA (1880)
William Boeing* engineer/airplane manufacturer – Detroit, MI USA (1881)
William Van Alen* architect (Chrysler Building) – Brooklyn, NY USA (1883)
William Moulton Marston* inventor of early polygraph/ creator of _Wonder Woman _– Saugus, MA USA (1893)
William Faulkner* writer/N – New Albany, MS USA (1897)
William Costello* voice actor/original voice of Popeye/vaudeville performer – RI USA (1898)
William Joyce* WWII Nazi propagandist – Brooklyn, NY USA (1906)
William Steig* cartoonist – The Bronx, NY USA (1907)
William Shockley* physicist/N – Greater London, England (1910)
William Hanna* animator/ producer – Melrose, New Mexico USA (1910)
William Golding* novelist/ playwright/poet/N – Newquay, Cornwall, England (1911)
William Conrad* WW2 fighter pilot/ actor/director – Louisville, KY USA (1920)
William Windom* actor – New York, NY USA (1923)
William J. Bell* screenwriter/ television producer – Chicago, IL USA (1927)
William Shatner* actor/producer/director – Montreal, QC Canada (1931)
William Goldman* novelist/playwright/ screenwriter – Chicago, IL USA (1931)
William Vance* comics artist – Anderlecht, Belgium (1935)
William Simons* actor (Heartbeat) – Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales (1940)
William H. Macy* actor – Miami, FL USA (1950)
William Hurt* actor – Washington, D.C. USA (1950)
William Sadler* actor – Buffalo, NY USA (1950)
William Baldwin* actor/writer/producer – Massapequa, Long Island, NY USA (1963)
Prince William* second in line to succeed Elizabeth II – London, England (1982)
William Karlsson* hockey player – Märsta, Sweden (1993)
William Spetz* blogger/comedian/actor – Umeå, Sweden (1996)
William Byron* racing driver – Charlotte, NC USA (1997)
Photo credit to George Charles Beresford
Updated 2.3.2021