Leading Figures in History

Discover the people who shaped our world — from rulers and scientists to artists and activists.

62243 persons found

William Colby

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 1976

William Collins Whitney

b. 1841

American politician (1841–1904)

William Conrad

b. 1920

American actor and director (1920–1994)

William Conrad Gibbons

American academic (1926–2015)

William Conway (cardinal)

Irish cardinal

William Cookworthy

William Corlett

English author (1938–2005)

William Cornwallis

Royal Navy officer and politician (1744–1819)

William Cosmo Monkhouse

British poet and critic (1840–1901)

William Courtenay (bishop)

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1381 to 1396

William Coventry

17th-century English statesman

William Cowper

English poet and hymnodist (1731–1800)

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

17th- and 18-century English politician and first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain

William Croft

English composer and organist (1678–1727)

William Crookes

b. 1832

English chemist and physicist (1832–1919)

William Cullen Bryant

b. 1794

American writer & journalist (1794–1878)

William D. Byron

b. 1895

American politician

William D. Coleman (politician)

Former President of Liberia

William D. Coolidge

b. 1873

American physicist and engineer (1873–1975)

William D. Leahy

American admiral (1875–1959)

William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel

12th-century English nobleman

William Dampier

b. 1651

English explorer, pirate, privateer and naturalist (1651–1715)

William Daniel Phillips

b. 1948

American physicist (born 1948)

William Dannemeyer

American politician (1929–2019)