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.