Wellington Street. In honour of the Duke of Wellington, because it leads to Waterloo Bridge.
Wells Street. A corruption of “Well Street,” after Well in Yorkshire, the seat of the Strangeways family, from whom Lady Berners, owner of the estate, was descended.
Welsher. The name borne by an absconding bookmaker on a race-course was originally a “Welshman,” in allusion to the old ditty: “Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief.”
Welsh Rabbit. A popular corruption of “Welsh Rarebit.”
Wesleyan Methodists. The name borne by that portion of the Methodist sect which worship in chapels and so-called churches, which was far from the intention of their founder. See “[Primitive Methodists].”
Wesleyans. The followers of John Wesley, or “Methodists” in general.
Wessex. The great kingdom of the West Seaxe, or West Saxons, under the Heptarchy.
Westbourne Park. The district formerly traversed by the west bourne or stream between “Kilburn” and “Bayswater.”
West Indies. Those islands in the Caribbean Sea, which Columbus imagined to form part of the great unknown India, as approached from the west.
Westminster. This name has been from time immemorial given to the district of which the ancient fane tautologically styled “Westminster Abbey” is the centre. One does not speak of “York Minster Abbey” or “Lincoln Minster Abbey.” A minster is a great church in connection with a monastery. Since the Reformation the abbeys have been swept away, the Minsters remain. The earliest mention of “the West Minster” occurs in a Saxon charter of 785, in contradistinction to “the East Minster” that stood in those days somewhere on Tower Hill. All trace of this has been lost, yet it is possible that St Katherine’s Hospital, now displaced by the docks of the same name, grew out of it.