Leakey family

The Leakey family is a British and Kenyan family consisting of a number of notable military figures, agricultural scientists and archaeologists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Originally a family from Somerset and Devon in south-west England in the 1500-1600s, it has spread worldwide. The Kenyan branch can be traced back to the Bazett sisters, who were early missionaries at the turn of the 19th Century; with Mary Bazett marrying Harry Leakey before setting up a Mission School at Kabete.

Notable members

Archaeology and science

• Colin Leakey (1933–2018), plant scientist; son of Louis Leakey
• Louis Leakey (1903–1972), archaeologist; son of Harry Leakey and cousin of Nigel and Rea Leakey^[1]
• Louise Leakey (born 1972), paleontologist; daughter of Meave and Richard Leakey, married to Prince Emmanuel de Merode
• Mary Leakey (1913–1996), archaeologist; wife of Louis Leakey^[1]
• Meave Leakey (born 1942), palaeoanthropologist; wife of Richard Leakey
• Richard Leakey (1944–2022), politician and palaeoanthropologist; son of Louis and Mary Leakey
• Roger Leakey (born 1946), plant scientist and tropical agriculturalist; son of Douglas and Beryl and nephew of Louis Leakey
• Andrew Leakey (born 1977), plant scientist; son of Roger and Alison Leakey
• Chris Leakey (born 1981), marine ecologist and behavioural scientist; son of Roger and Alison Leakey

Military

• Lieutenant General David Leakey (born 1952), senior British Army officer and former Black Rod
• Joshua Leakey (born c. 1988), Victoria Cross recipient; son of Mark Leakey
• Air Commodore Mark Leakey, senior Royal Air Force officer and Director of the Armed Forces Christian Union; father of Joshua Leakey
• Nigel Leakey (1913–1941), Victoria Cross recipient; brother of Rea Leakey
• Major General Rea Leakey (1915–1999), decorated senior British Army officer; brother of Nigel Leakey

Other

• Arundell Gray Leakey, farmer killed in the Mau Mau Uprising; father of Nigel and Rea Leakey
• Robert ("Bob") Leakey (1914–2013), engineer and cave diver; brother of Nigel and Rea Leakey^[2]
• Caroline Leakey (1827–1881), writer; daughter of James Leakey
• The Reverend Harry Leakey, 20th century missionary; father of Louis Leakey
• James Leakey (1775–1866), artist; grandfather of Harry Leakey and great-great-uncle of Nigel and Rea Leakey
• Philip Leakey (born 1949), politician; son of Louis and Mary Leakey

Leakey family tree

v t e Leakey family tree
James Leakey (1775–1865)[i] Eliza Hubbard Woolmer (1793–1855)[ii] James Shirley Leakey (1824–1871) [citation needed] Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827–1881)[ii] 9 others[ii] Rev. Arundell Leakey (1853–1924) Rev. Harry Leakey (1868–1940) Elizabeth Laing (1873–1925)[iii][iv] Arundell Gray Arundell Leakey (1885–1954)[iii][iv] 5 others Henrietta Wilfrida Avern (1902–1993) Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey[iv] (1903–1972) Mary Douglas Nicol (1913–1996) 3 others Nigel Gray Leakey (1913–1941)[iii][iv] Robert Dove Leakey (1914–2013) Maj. Gen. Arundell Rea Leakey (1915–1999) Agnes Florence Leakey (1917–2006)[iv] Colin Louis Avern Leakey (1933–2018) Meave Epps (b. 1942) Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (1944–2022) Margaret Cropper Jonathan Harry Erskine Leakey (1940–2021) Philip Leakey (b. 1949) Lt. Gen. Arundell David Leakey (b. 1952) Louise Leakey (b. 1972) Emmanuel, Prince de Mérode (b. 1970)
Notes: O'Donoghue, F. M.; Remington, V. (revised) (2004). "Leakey, James (1775–1865), miniature painter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16244. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) "Eliza Hubbard Woolmer, wife of James Leakey". Artsandculture.google.com. Archived from the original on 2022-04-06. Retrieved 6 April 2022. Elizabeth Hubbard Woolmer was born on 20 December 1793. ... On 28 August 1815 she married the artist James Leakey (1775-1865) at St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter (2). They had eleven children. ... Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827-1881) "Serjeant Nigel Gray Leakey | War Casualty Details". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original on 2022-04-08. Retrieved 8 April 2022. NIGEL GRAY LEAKEY ... Died 19 May 1941 Age 28 years old ... Son of Arundell Gray A. and Elizabeth Leakey, of Kiganjo, Kenya. Lean, Mary (26 January 2007). "Agnes Hofmeyr, Worker for reconciliation in Africa". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 8 April 2022. Agnes Leakey, worker for reconciliation: born Limuru, Kenya 8 May 1917; married 1946 Bremer Hofmeyr (died 1993; one son, and one son deceased); died Johannesburg 1 December 2006. ... Agnes Leakey was born in Limuru, Kenya, in 1917, the youngest child of Gray Leakey, cousin of the anthropologist Louis Leakey, and his first wife, Elizabeth. ... in 1926, when Elizabeth died ... She married a South African colleague, Bremer Hofmeyr, in 1946. ... in ... 1954 ... Mau Mau fighters ... attacked her father's farm, killed her stepmother and abducted her father. ... [he was] buried alive, in a shallow grave on Mount Kenya. ... she lost her eldest brother, Nigel Leakey, in 1941 at Colito, where he won the Victoria Cross. Three years after Bremer's death, in 1993, their elder son, Murray, was killed in a car accident in Johannesburg.

References

1. The Leakey Foundation, "About" page. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
2. "Bob Leakey". The Daily Telegraph. 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.