WARD'S BOOK OF EPONYMS Who gave their names to what
If you have ever wondered who gave their names to things and places, you will find the answer here. You can read about John Sandwich, George Dallas, Gustave Eiffel, James of York (New York), Clarence Birds-Eye, Charles Baltimore and many many others.
This is Ward's Book of Eponyms where you will find a large list of people who had things named after them. This page is devoted to things named after people whose name begins with the letter:
W
watt The watt, usually counted by the kilowatts i.e. a thousand watts, is named for James Watt, a Scottish engineer. Watt did not invent the steam engine but he modified and improved the designs of others so that it could be used efficiently. He was the first person to harness steam power efficiently. Steam power enabled factories to flourish and created the Industrial Revolution, making Great Britain the centre of economic and political power in the late nineteenth century. When he was a boy, Watt was fascinated by steam. He got the idea for steam power by watching the family kettle boiling on the hob. He used a spoon to try to stop the steam from the spot and found it an overpowering force. When his mother saw him doing this, she rebuked him and told him to get on with something useful.
wellington Wellington was a general and a politician. He made war against the French on the battlefield and strove for reconciliation in the Cabinet Room. His major claim to fame, apart from winning the Battle of Waterloo, was the invention of the welly. Wellington’s dual career as soldier and politician led to the creation of the Wellington boot, known as the welly. Wellington instructed his shoemaker to modify the traditional soldier’s Hessian boot. The new footwear was designed in calfskin, had the trim removed and was cut close round the thigh. The resulting creation was hard wearing in battle yet comfortable and elegant in the drawing room.
The Williams Pear dates from about 1770 when it was raised by a schoolmaster from Aldermaston, whose name history has forgotten. We know that he sold trees to Richard Williams a nurseryman who grew the pears on 8 acres of ground in Chiswick. He named his product the Aldermaston pear but his customers took to calling it the Williams Pear. Strangely, the pear's botanical name is 'Williams Bon Chretien'. Williams died in 1826 and is buried in St Nicholas Church, Church Street, Chiswick, London W4 2PH.
Wimpy Hamburgers and Restaurants The name does not belong to the founder but to J Wellington Wimpy, a hamburger loving character in the Popeye cartoons by E C Segar. Wimpy Grills started business in Chicago in the 1930’s and carried on opening Wimpy Bars in other cities. A speciality of the company is the Wimpyburger.
Winchester rifle The 73 Winchester, first manufactured in 1873, was the prototype of all the Winchester rifles. It was named for Oliver Fisher Winchester (1810–1880) who founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and improved the repeating rifles of the Civil War. Winchester produced the breech-loading repeating rifle at his plant in New Haven, Connecticut. He was not the inventor of the rifle but used an amalgam of patents, the work of other inventors. Although the Winchester is dubbed the ‘rifle that won the West’, Oliver Winchester lived and died in the East. He was born in Boston and died in New Haven, Connecticut. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven.Other letters