W. A. B. Coolidge

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W. A. B. Coolidge (August 28, 1850 – May 8, 1926), full name William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge, was an American historian, theologian and mountaineer.

Coolidge was born in New York as the son of Frederic William Skinner, a Boston merchant, and Elisabeth Neville nee Brevoort of the Netherlands.

Coolidge studied history and law at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and at Exeter College, Oxford.

In 1875 he became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. From 1880 to 1881 he was professor of British history at Saint David's College in Lampeter and in 1883 he became a priest of the Anglican church.

Coolidge was one of the great figures of the so-called 'silver age' of alpinism, making first ascents of the few significant peaks in the Alps that hadn't been climbed during the golden age of alpinism.

In 1885 he moved to Grindelwald, Switzerland, where he died in 1926.

[edit] First ascents in the Alps

Piz Badile, 27 July 1867, with F. and H. Dévouassoud
Ailefroide, 7 July 1870, with Christian Almer and Ulrich Almer
Central peak of La Meije, 1870, with Meta Brevoort and three guides
Unterbächhorn, 1872
First winter ascent of the Jungfrau, January 1874, with Christian and Ulrich Almer
West summit of Les Droites, 16 July 1876, with Christian and Ulrich Almer
Pic Coolidge, July 1877 with Christian and Ulrich Almer
Les Bans, July 14, 1878, with Christian and Ulrich Almer
Scherbadung, 1886

[edit] References

Ronald W. Clark: An Eccentric in the Alps: The story of W. A. B. Coolidge, the Great Victorian Mountaineer. Museum Press, London 1959

[edit] External links

Works by or about W. A. B. Coolidge in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Persondata
NAME	Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Coolidge, W. A. B.
SHORT DESCRIPTION	British historian, theologist, and mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 28, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH	New York
DATE OF DEATH	May 8, 1926
PLACE OF DEATH	Grindelwald, Switzerland