Who's Who was first published in its current, autobiographical form in 1897, and this volume of Who Was Who contains entries for people from the very early editions who died between 1897 and 1915. It contains over 7,500 entries, including biographies for Lewis Carroll, William Gladstone, Florence Nightingale and Robert Falcon Scott.

This 7th edition has been fully updated in time for the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I, with the addition of newly available dates of death from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and family information from other online resources.