Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/205

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Wigram
199
Wigram
8vo; 5th ed. 1855.
  1. ‘Practical Hints on the Formation and Management of Sunday Schools,’ London, 1833, 8vo.
  2. ‘The Cottager's Daily Family Prayers,’ Chelmsford, 1862, 12mo.

He also selected and arranged ‘Daily Hymns for the Month,’ London, 1866, fol.

His younger brother, George Vicesimus Wigram (1805–1879), exegetical writer, born in 1805, was the twentieth child of Sir Robert Wigram, and the fourteenth by his second wife. He matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 16 Dec. 1826, and was intended to take orders in the church of England. He, however, joined the Plymouth Brethren, and devoted himself to the study of the biblical text. In 1839 he published ‘The Englishman's Greek Concordance to the New Testament,’ London, 8vo. A second edition appeared in 1844, and an index in the following year. This work, which superseded ‘The Concordance to the New Testament’ by John Williams (1727–1798) [q. v.], was based on the ‘Concordance’ of E. Schmidt, and comprised an alphabetical arrangement of every word in the Greek text. It was followed in 1843 by ‘The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament,’ London, 8vo, a work on a similar plan. In 1867, with W. Chalk, he edited ‘The Hebraist's Vade Mecum,’ the first attempt at a complete verbal index to the contents of the Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures. Wigram died on 1 Jan. 1879. He married, first, Fanny (d. 1834), daughter of Thomas Cherbury Bligh, and secondly, Catherine, only daughter of William Parnell of Avondale, and aunt of Charles Stewart Parnell [q. v.] Three commemorative volumes composed of his sermons and letters, entitled ‘Memorials of the Ministry of G. V. Wigram,’ were published in 1880 and 1881 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Men of the Time, 1865).

[Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, s.v. ‘Fitzwygram;’ Gent. Mag. 1867, i. 669; Allibone's Dict. of English Lit.; Foster's Index Eccles.

E. I. C.

WIGTOWN, Earl of. [See Fleming, Sir Malcolm, d. 1360?]

WIHTGAR (d. 544), first king of the Isle of Wight, was the nephew of Cerdic [q. v.] He seems to have first come to Britain with his brother Stuf in 514 (A.-S. Chron., ap. Petrie, Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 301), and to have conquered the Britons in a battle picturesquely described by Henry of Huntingdon (Hist. Angl., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 711). Nothing more is known of Wihtgar until 534, when Cerdic and Cynric [q. v.] handed over to him and to his brother the Isle of Wight (A.-S. Chron. l. c. p. 301), which they had conquered four years before (Ethelwerd, Chron., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 503). Wihtgar himself was probably a Jute (Flor. Wig.; also Sym. Dunelm. and Asser, ap. Petrie, l. c. pp. 550, 674, 469). Green, who with Freeman (Norman Conquest, i. 10 n.) doubts the story of Wihtgar, thinks that Cerdic's conquest of the Isle of Wight was not in his own interest, but in that of his allies, for the new settlers of the island were undoubtedly Jutes (Making of England, p. 90). Wihtgar ruled honourably (Will. Malm. Gesta Reg. Angl. p. 27, Engl. Hist. Soc.) for ten years, and, dying in 544, was buried in Wihtgarabyrig, the modern Carisbrook (A.-S. Chron., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 302).

The ascription by the ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ (ib. p. 339) to Wihtgar of certain laws concerning the church, which were confirmed in 796, is an obvious slip, which Wilkins repeats (Concilia, i. 158), but the whole story of Wihtgar is open to doubt.

[Authorities quoted in the text.]

A. M. C.-e.

WIHTRED (d. 725), king of Kent, was the great-great-grandson of King Ethelbert (552?–616) [q. v.] He began his reign, after a period of disputed rule, probably about the end of 690 (Bede, Hist. Eccles. ap. Petrie, Mon. Brit. i. 242, 282). He seems to have shared his throne for some time with a certain Suæbhard or Waebberd (Bede, loc. cit. p. 255), whom Matthew of Westminster calls his brother (Flores Hist. i. 346). In 694 (Hen. Hunt. Hist. Angl. ib. p. 723) Ine [q. v.] led an expedition against Kent to avenge the death of his kinsman Mul, but King Wihtred succeeded in appeasing his wrath with a large money fine or wergild. It has been conjectured that the submissive attitude of Kent was due to the defeat of its allies, East-Anglia and Essex. Wihtred's reign was long, peaceful, and prosperous, extending over thirty-four years. He died on 23 April 725 (Bede, loc. cit. p. 282). Wihtred married Werburga and left three sons (ib.), who inherited his kingdom in succession.

Several extant charters attest Wihtred's loyalty and munificence to the church in Kent (Wilkins, Concilia, i. 56 seq.). The most famous of these is the so-called ‘Privilege of Wihtred’ securing freedom and independence to the churches and monasteries of Kent. This was confirmed by the king between 696 and 716 at a Kentish witan