Leonard Huxley (writer)

Leonard Huxley (December 11, 1860 - May 2 1933) was a British schoolteacher, writer and editor.

Biography

Family

His father was the zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, 'Darwin's bulldog'. Leonard was educated at University College School, London, St. Andrews University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He first married Julia Arnold, daughter of Tom Arnold. She was a sister of the novelist Mrs. Humphrey Ward, niece of the poet Matthew Arnold, and granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School (immortalised as a character in "Tom Brown's Schooldays").

Their four children included the biologist Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (born 1887), the writer Aldous Leonard Huxley (born 1894). Their middle son, Noel Trevenen (born in 1889) committed suicide in 1914. Their daughter, Margaret Arnold Huxley, was born in 1899 and died on October 11 1981. Julia Arnold died of cancer in 1908.

After the death of his first wife, Leonard married Rosalind Bruce, and had two further sons. The elder of these was David Bruce Huxley (born 1915), whose daughter Angela married George Pember Darwin, son of the physicist Sir Charles Galton Darwin. The younger was Nobel Prizewinning physiologist Andrew Fielding Huxley (born 1917).

Work

Huxley's major biographies were the three volumes of "Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley" and the two volumes of "Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI". He also published "Thomas Henry Huxley: a character sketch", and a short biography of Darwin. He was assistant master at Charterhouse School between 1884 and 1901. He was then the assistant editor of Cornhill Magazine between 1901 and 1916, becoming its editor in 1916.

* 1900 "Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley". 2 vols.
* 1912 "Thoughts on education drawn from the writings of Matthew Arnold" (editor).
* 1913 "Scott's last expedition" (editor). 2 vols.
* 1918 "Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker" OM, GCSI. 2 vols.
* 1920 "Anniversaries, and other poems".
* 1920 "Thomas Henry Huxley: a character sketch".
* 1920 "Charles Darwin".
* 1926 "Progress and the unfit".
* 1926 "Sheaves from the Cornhill".
* 1929 "Jane Welsh Carlyle: letters to her family 1839-1863" (editor).
* 1930 "Elizabeth Barrett Browning: letters to her sister 1846-1859" (editor).

External links

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