Biographies A-Z

Leslie, Henry (1580–1661), Church of Ireland bishop of Down and Connor, was born in Scotland at Leslie, Fife, the third son of James Leslie and his third wife, Agnes Somerville. He went to St Andrews University, where he obtained an MA and a…

Leslie, James Blennerhassett (1865–1952), clergyman and scholar, was born 28 May 1865, third son of James Leslie, farmer, and Mary Anne Leslie (née Blennerhassett) of Clouncannon, Killarney, Co. Kerry. He read history, political economy, and jurisprudence at…

Leslie, John (1571–1671), ‘the fighting bishop’, was born 14 October 1571 in Crichie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, eldest son of George Leslie and his wife Marjory. Educated in Aberdeen, he travelled on the Continent (c.1589–c.1609), becoming fluent in French,…

Leslie, John Randolph (‘Shane’) (1885–1971), writer and lecturer, was born in London on 24 September 1885 and christened John Randolph a few weeks later at Castle Leslie, Co. Monaghan. His father, Sir John Leslie, second baronet, was an extensive landowner in Monaghan and Donegal…

Leslie (Lesley), Robert (d. 1672), Church of Ireland bishop, was eldest son of Henry Leslie (qv), later Church of Ireland bishop of Down and Connor and subsequently of Meath, and his wife Jane Swinton. His early life remains obscure,…

Leslie, Mary Isobel (‘Temple Lane’) (1899–1978), novelist, critic, and poet, was born 19 April 1899 in Portobello House, Dublin, one of two daughters of the Rev. John Herbert Leslie, a Church of Ireland clergyman from Cahir, Co. Tipperary, who was subsequently appointed dean of…

Leslie, Sir John (1822–1916), 1st baronet, painter and politician, was born 16 December 1822 at Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, the second son in a family of three boys and four girls born to Colonel Charles Powell Leslie MP (d. 1831), and his second wife, Christina, daughter of George…

Leslie, Thomas Edward Cliffe (1825–82), political economist, was born 21 June 1825 in Co. Wexford, second son of the Rev. Edward Leslie and Margaret Leslie (née Higginson), who had also at least five daughters. His father was a member of the Leslie family of Glaslough, and a half-…

Lester, Seán (John Ernest) (1888–1959), diplomat, was born 27 September 1888 at Woodburn, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, son of Robert John Lester, owner of a Belfast grocery shop, and Henrietta Mary Lester (née Ritchie). Briefly educated at the Methodist College, Belfast (1901–2), he left…

L'Estrange, Francis (‘Frank’) (1803–75), surgeon and dentist, was born in Dublin, son of Francis L' Estrange (1756–1836), surgeon, obstetrician, and PRCSI; his mother's maiden name was Shiels. He trained at…

Lethlobar (d. 873), son of Loingsech and overking of Ulaid, belonged to the dynasty of Dál nAraide. His grandfather, Tommaltach son of Indrechtach, had briefly held the dignity of overking of Ulaid before his death (790). His father, Loingsech, however, does not seem to have…

Lett, Anita Georgina Edith (1872–1940), rural activist, was born in 1872 at Waldeton Court, a large manor house near Brixham, South Devon, the daughter of Henry Studdy , a clergyman who had served as a commander in the Royal Navy, and Amelia Margaret Studdy (née Crapper) of…

Letts, Edmund Albert (1852–1918), professor of chemistry, was born 27 August 1852 in Clare Lodge, Sydenham, Kent, England, third son among seven children of Thomas Letts, a prosperous printer and stationer, and his second wife, Emma Horwood (née Barry). His father was head of a…

Letts, Winifred Mabel (1882–1972), novelist and playwright, was born in Salford, Lancashire, on 10 February 1882, the youngest daughter of Reverend Ernest Letts, rector of Newton Heath, Manchester, and his wife Mary Isabel (née Ferrier). She was educated at St Anne's, Abbots Bromley, in…

Leventhal, Abraham Jacob (‘Con’) (1896–1979), lecturer, essayist, and critic, was born 9 May 1896 in Lower Clanbrassil St., Dublin, son of Moses (Maurice) Leventhal, draper, and Rosa Leventhal (née Levenberg). He was reared in an orthodox Jewish family; his mother, a poet and lifelong…

Lever, Charles James (1806–72), novelist, was born 31 August 1806 in Dublin, younger of two sons of James Lever, a contract builder from Lancashire who worked on the Custom House and Maynooth College, and Julie Lever (née Chandler), also of English descent, who was from Kilkenny.…

Lever, James (1760–1833), architect and contractor, was born in Lancashire, England, son of a tradesman; his parents are unknown, but he always claimed to be a nephew of Sir Ashton Lever, an eccentric high sheriff who collected shells and stuffed birds. Apprenticed to a local…

Leverous, Thomas (1485×1490–1577), catholic bishop of Kildare, was probably born in Co. Kildare during the late 1480s. In 1540 he was described as being at least 50, while his role as foster-brother to the future 9th earl of Kildare,…

Levine, June (1931–2008), feminist, journalist and author, was born Stephanie June Levine in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, on 31 December 1931, eldest child of Charles Solomon ('Solly') Levine, a cabinet maker, the son of Jewish parents who fled from Latvia, and his wife Muriel Ruth (…

Levinge, Sir Richard (1656–1724), lawyer and politician, was born 2 May 1656, at Leek in Staffordshire, the second son of Richard Levinge of Parwich in Derbyshire. His father was a barrister and recorder of the city of Chester while his mother, Anne, was a daughter of George Parker…

Lewines, Edward Joseph (d. 1828), United Irish agent, seems to have been a close relative, most likely a son, of Laurence Lewins, who was in business as a wool-card maker at 6 Vicar Street, Dublin (1789–94), 6 Thomas Street (1795), and 38 Vicar Street (from 1796). Edward Lewines…

Lewis, Andrew (1720–81), soldier and colonist, was born 9 October 1720 in Co. Donegal, son of John Lewis, farmer, and Margaret Lewis (née Lynn). His father, of huguenot descent, emigrated with his family to America after being involved in an agrarian dispute. According to Appleton, his…

Lewis, Cecil Day (Nicholas Blake) (1904–72), poet, was born 27 April 1904 in Ballintubbert, Co. Laois, the only child of Frank Cecil Day-Lewis, Church of Ireland curate, and his wife, Kathleen Blake (née Squires), herself the youngest of the ten children of the director of the General…

Lewis, Clive Staples (‘Jack’) (1898–1963), writer, scholar, and Christian apologist, was born 29 November 1898 in Dundela Villas, Belfast, the younger son of Albert James Lewis, police solicitor and unionist activist, and his wife, Florence (Flora) Augusta, daughter of the Rev.…

Lewis, Helen (1916–2009), Holocaust survivor, dance teacher, choreographer and memoirist, was born Helena Katz on 22 June 1916 into a well-off Jewish family in Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian empire (Bohemia became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia in 1918). She was an only child…