21 Facts About Leslie Stephen

Sir Leslie Stephen was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an early humanist activist.

Leslie Stephen was the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.

Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellectual family, and was born at 14 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington in London, the son of Sir James Stephen and Jane Catherine Stephen.

Leslie Stephen's father was Colonial Undersecretary of State and a noted abolitionist.

Leslie Stephen was the fourth of five children, his siblings including James Fitzjames Stephen and Caroline Emelia Stephen.

Leslie Stephen's family had belonged to the Clapham Sect, the early 19th century group of mainly evangelical Christian social reformers.

Leslie Stephen was elected a fellow of Trinity Hall in 1854 and became a junior tutor in 1856.

Leslie Stephen recounted some of his experiences in a chapter in his Life of Fawcett as well as in some less formal Sketches from Cambridge: By a Don.

Minny and Leslie became engaged on 4 December 1866 and married on 19 June 1867.

Leslie Stephen became a member of the college's governing College Corporation.

Leslie Stephen contributed to the Saturday Review, Fraser, Macmillan, the Fortnightly, and other periodicals.

Leslie Stephen was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1901.

Leslie Stephen served as the first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography.

Leslie Stephen was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902.

Leslie Stephen advocated for more people of this view to claim the label "agnostic" for themselves, eschewing the harder associations of the unadorned term "atheist", reflecting the fact that no one who claims a disbelief in gods does so on the basis of professing absolute knowledge about the universe.

Leslie Stephen concluded his essay "An Agnostic's Apology" with a reply to religious critics who hold atheists and agnostics in contempt:.

Leslie Stephen was very involved in the organised humanist movement, even serving multiple terms as President of the West London Ethical Society.

Leslie Stephen gave numerous addresses and lectures to the ethical society during his tenure as president, which are collected at length across multiple volumes of humanist writing.

Leslie Stephen was an active organiser in the movement, and in one lecture, entitled "The aims of ethical societies", set about the task of defining the broader social purpose which animated the wider Ethical movement at that time.

Leslie Stephen was one of the most prominent figures in the golden age of alpinism during which many major alpine peaks saw their first ascents.

Leslie Stephen died in Kensington and is buried in the eastern section of Highgate Cemetery in the raised section alongside the northern path.