WADDINGTON, WILLIAM HENRY (1826-1894 ) French statesman, was born at St. Remi-sur-l'Avre (Eure-et-Loir) on Dec. II, 1826. He was the son of a wealthy•Englishman who had established a large spinning factory in France and had been naturalized as a French subjeCt. After receiving his early educa tion in Paris, he was sent to Rugby, and thence to Trinity College, Cambridge. He undertook travels in Asia Minor, Greece and Syria, the fruits of which were published in two Memoires, crowned by the Institute, and in his Mélanges de numismatique et de philologie (1861). His other archaeological works include the Fastes de l'empire romain, and editions of Diocletian's edict and of Philippe Lebas's Voyage archeologique (1868-1877). He was elected in 1865 a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres After standing unsuccessfully for the department of the Aisne in 1865 and 1869, Waddington was returned by that constituency at the election of 1871. He was minister of public instruction in the short-lived cabinet of May 19, 1873, and in 1876, having been elected senator for the Aisne, he was again entrusted by Dufaure with the ministry of public instruction. His most important
project, a bill transferring the conferment of degrees to the state, passed the Chamber, but was thrown out by the Senate. He con tinued to hold his office under Jules Simon, with whom he was overthrown on the famous seize mai 1877. (See SIMON, JULES.) Waddington was minister of foreign affairs under Dufaure and a French plenipotentiary at the Berlin Congress. He obtained, from Lord Salisbury, a promise that Great Britain in return for Cyprus would allow France a free hand in Tunis. Early in 1879 Waddington succeeded Dufaure as prime minister but held office only by sufferance of Gambetta, and had to retire in December.
In 1883 he accepted the London embassy, which he continued to hold till 1893, showing an exceptional tenacity in de fence of his country's interests. He died on Jan. 13, 1894. His wife, an American lady, whose maiden name was Mary A. King, wrote some interesting recollections of their diplomatic ex periences—Letters of a Diplomatist's Wife, 1883-1900 (New York, 1903), and Italian Letters (London, 1905).