Unknown

Born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, on July 25, 1825, John Askham had almost no formal education. After labouring as a child in his father's shoe-making shop, Askham earned his living as a shoe-maker. He taught himself to read and write and published his verses in local newspapers and then as volumes, financed by subscriptions.

• Bowerbank, Sylvia. "Taylor, Jane (1783–1824)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
• Taylor, Ann and Jane. Rhymes for the Nursery. 1806.
• --. Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds. 1808.
• --. The Associate Minstrels. 1810.

Born September 5, 1861, Walter Alexander Raleigh received his education at the City of London School, Edinburgh Academy, University College London, and King's College Cambridge.

Sir Thomas Wyatt was born at Allington Castle, Kent, in 1503, the son of Henry Wyatt and Anne Skinner. He was educated at St. John's College Cambridge, become a diplomat in the service of Henry VIII about 1526 and travelled to Italy first in 1527.

Bertram Stevens in 1906 gives this biographical summary:

Born in Co. Down, Ireland, 6th August, 1869; son of Rev. W. Wright, author of "The Brontes in Ireland", etc. Arrived in New Zealand, 1887. Entered Congregational Ministry, 1898. Now stationed at Nelson, N.Z.

Wright published four volumes of poetry and went on to edit the poems of Henry Lawson.

• Loomie, A. J. "Wotton, Sir Henry (1568–1639)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

Henry Clay Work, born on October 1, 1832, grew up in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of an active opponent of slavery, who helped thousands of slaves to escape north. Work took employment as a printer in Chicago in 1854, but in 1853, 1876-77, and 1882-83, Work wrote 75 songs, at first encouraged by the minstrel E. P. Christy, and then under contract to Root and Cady, music publishers.

• Gill, Stephen. "Wordsworth, William (1770–1850)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. May 2010.

• Edwards, Jason. "Wolfe, Charles (1791–1823)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Jan. 2011.

• O'Callaghan, Michelle. "Wither, George (1588–1667)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004.