Wilhelm Heinrich Immanuel Bleek
1827–75
German philologist and ethnographer. Studied theology, Bonn, 1845–8; classical philology, Berlin, 1848–9; Bonn, 1849–51. In 1853, moved to Natal, South Africa; became librarian and translator to the governor of Cape Colony, George Grey, 1855; curator, South African Public Library, 1862. Researched Bantu and Xhosa languages and wrote a comparative grammar of South African languages, 1862–9.
Sources
DSAB
NDB.
Bibliography
DSAB: Dictionary of South African biography. Edited by W. J. de Kock et al. 4 vols. Pretoria and Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel Beperk [and others]. 1968–81.
NDB: Neue deutsche Biographie. Under the auspices of the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. 27 vols. (A–Wettiner) to date. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. 1953–.
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