Leslie Stephen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leslie Stephen
|
|
|---|---|
Stephen c. 1860
|
|
| Born | 28 November 1832 Kensington Gore, London, England
|
| Died | 22 February 1904 (aged 71) Kensington, London, England
|
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | King's College, London Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | |
| Parent(s) |
|
| Relatives |
See list
|
Sir Leslie Stephen (born November 28, 1832 – died February 22, 1904) was an important English writer, critic, and historian. He was also a biographer, meaning he wrote about the lives of other people. Beyond his writing, he was a skilled mountaineer and an early supporter of secular humanism, a way of thinking that focuses on human values and reason. He is also known as the father of famous writers Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
Contents
Life Story
Leslie Stephen came from a very smart and well-known family in London. He was born in Kensington Gore. His father, Sir James Stephen, was a government official who worked to end slavery. Leslie was the fourth of five children. His siblings included James Fitzjames Stephen and Caroline Emelia Stephen.
His family was part of a group called the Clapham Sect. This group worked for social changes in the early 1800s. Leslie Stephen went to Eton College, King's College London, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He finished his studies at Cambridge in 1854 and became a teacher there in 1856.
In 1859, he became a clergyman, which is a religious leader. However, after studying philosophy and seeing new ideas from books like Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, he started to question his faith. By 1862, he no longer believed in the same way, and in 1864, he left his teaching job at Cambridge and moved to London.
His Marriages
First Marriage: Harriet (Minny) Thackeray (1867–1875)
Leslie Stephen met Harriet Thackeray, also known as Minny, through his family. Minny's father was the famous writer William Makepeace Thackeray. Leslie and Minny got engaged in December 1866 and married in June 1867.
After their wedding, they traveled to the Swiss Alps and Italy. They lived with Minny's sister, Anny, who was also a writer. In 1870, Leslie and Minny had a daughter named Laura Makepeace Stephen. Laura was born early and was very small. In 1875, Minny became pregnant again but was very sick. She sadly died the next day, on November 28, 1875.
After Minny's death, Leslie Stephen continued to live with Anny. His sister, Caroline, also helped care for him and his daughter. Leslie Stephen then started spending more time with Julia Duckworth, a widowed friend of Anny's.
Second Marriage: Julia Duckworth (1878–1895)
Leslie Stephen's second wife was Julia Prinsep Duckworth. Julia was born in India and later became a model for famous painters in England. Before marrying Leslie, she had been married to Herbert Duckworth and had three children with him.
Leslie Stephen and Julia Duckworth married on March 26, 1878. They had four children together:
- Vanessa (1879–1961), who became a painter.
- Thoby (1880–1906).
- Virginia (1882–1941), who became a very famous writer.
- Adrian (1883–1948).
In May 1895, Julia sadly died from the flu. This left Leslie Stephen to care for their four young children, who were between 11 and 15 years old.
His Career and Work
In the 1850s, Leslie Stephen and his brother James taught at The Working Men's College. This college helped working-class people get an education. Stephen was also given special honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.
After leaving Cambridge, Stephen moved to London and became a journalist. A journalist is someone who writes for newspapers and magazines. He became the editor of The Cornhill Magazine in 1871. Many famous writers, like Thomas Hardy and Henry James, wrote for his magazine.
In his free time, he loved sports and mountaineering, which is climbing mountains. He was one of the first presidents of the Alpine Club, a group for mountain climbers. In 1871, he wrote a book called The Playground of Europe. This book was about his own mountain climbs in the Alps and became a classic for mountaineers.
Stephen also wrote important books about philosophy and history. His book The History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876) was very well-known. He also wrote The Science of Ethics (1882), which was used as a textbook.
One of his biggest jobs was being the first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography from 1885 to 1891. This huge project collected the life stories of important people in British history. In 1902, he was given the special honor of being made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).
His Views on Humanism
As an adult, Leslie Stephen identified as an agnostic atheist. This means he didn't believe in gods, but he also felt that humans couldn't truly know if gods exist. He wrote a lot about these ideas. He explained that he didn't really "lose" his faith, but rather realized he had never truly believed in the first place. His second wife, Julia, also wrote about similar ideas.
Stephen encouraged people who shared his views to call themselves "agnostic." He felt this word was better than "atheist" because it showed that no one can claim to have absolute knowledge about the universe. He believed it was better to be honest about what we don't know.
He was very active in the organized humanist movement. He served as the president of the West London Ethical Society many times. This group was part of the Union of Ethical Societies, which later became Humanists UK. He gave many talks and lectures to these groups, explaining the goals of the ethical movement.
Mountaineering Achievements
Leslie Stephen was a very important figure during the "golden age of alpinism." This was a time when many major peaks in the Alps were climbed for the first time. He joined the Alpine Club when it started in 1857. With his favorite Swiss guide, Melchior Anderegg, Stephen was the first to climb many mountains, including:
- Wildstrubel – September 11, 1858
- Bietschhorn – August 13, 1859
- Rimpfischhorn – September 9, 1859
- Alphubel – August 9, 1860
- Blüemlisalphorn – August 27, 1860
- Schreckhorn – August 16, 1861
- Jungfraujoch – July 1862
- Monte Disgrazia – August 23, 1862
- Zinalrothorn – August 22, 1864
- Mont Mallet – September 4, 1871
He was also the President of the Alpine Club from 1865 to 1868 and edited their magazine, the Alpine Journal, from 1868 to 1872.
Selected Books and Writings
Here are some of the books Leslie Stephen wrote:
- The "Times" on the American War: A Historical Study (1865)
- Sketches from Cambridge (1865)
- The Playground of Europe (1871)
- Essays on Free Thinking and Plain Speaking (1873)
- Hours in a Library (3 vols., 1874–1879)
- The History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (2 vols., 1876)
- Samuel Johnson (1878)
- Swift (1882)
- The Science of Ethics (1882)
- Life of Henry Fawcett (1885)
- An Agnostic's Apology and Other Essays (1893)
- Social Rights and Duties (1896)
- Studies of a Biographer (4 volumes, 1898–1902)
- The English Utilitarians (1900)
- George Eliot (1902)
- English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century (1903, 1904)
His Death and Legacy
Sir Leslie Stephen died in Kensington, London, on February 22, 1904. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery. His daughter, Virginia Woolf, was very sad after his death. She later wrote about him in her famous novel, To the Lighthouse, where she created the character of Mr. Ramsay based on her father.
To remember him, his friends started a special lecture series at the University of Cambridge in 1907. This "Leslie Stephen Lecture" is still held regularly and focuses on topics like literature, biographies, and ethics.
Images for kids
-
In Spanish: Leslie Stephen para niños
See also
In Spanish: Leslie Stephen para niños
