Stephen, Sir Leslie (1832-1904), was a British biographer, essayist, and editor. He edited the Dictionary of National Biography from 1885 to 1891. Stephen wrote biographies of men and women of the 1700’s and 1800’s, including the writers Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and George Eliot. He also edited Cornhill, a literary magazine, from 1871 to 1882. His other works include The Times on the American War (1861-1865); Hours in a Library (1874-1879); and Studies of a Biographer (1899).
Stephen was born on Nov. 28, 1832, in London. He graduated from Cambridge University. Stephen became a priest in 1859, but he later left the priesthood. He received many honorary degrees and was knighted in 1902. Stephen died on Feb. 22, 1904. He was the father of the novelist Virginia Woolf.
