Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/476

 business in Hull and resided in Dundee till 1864, writing in the 'Advertiser.' During the civil war in America he was almost the only journalist in Scotland to support the cause of the North.

In 1864 Leng joined Frederick Clifford [q. v. Suppl. II] in acquiring on easy terms the 'Sheffield Daily, Telegraph.' He became managing editor, and at Sheffield the remainder of his life was passed. On 1 Jan. 1864 the 'Sheffield Daily Telegraph' became his property and first bore the imprint of 'Leng & Co.' In 1872 more extensive premises were purchased in Aldine Court, and there linotype machines were first employed in England to set up a newspaper entirely. The paper, which was almost moribund when he undertook its direction, quickly became in Leng's vigorous hands a great conservative power in the north of England.

Leng was fearless in advocacy of what he deemed the public interest. At personal risk he denounced in 1867 the terrorism practised by Sheffield trade-unionists upon non-union workmen under the leadership of William Broadhead [q. v. Suppl. I]. Leng induced the government to appoint a royal commission of inquiry which fully established his allegations (September 1867). He is the original of Mr. Holdfast in Charles Reade's 'Put Yourself in his Place' (1870), a novel dealing with Broadhead's crimes. In recognition of his services he was presented (28 April 1868) with his portrait by H. F. Crighton and a purse of 600 guineas, subscribed by men of all political opinions. The picture now hangs in Sheffield town hall.

Leng established at Sheffield as supplementary to the 'Telegraph,' the 'Weekly Telegraph,' the 'Evening Telegraph and Star,' the 'Weekly News,' and the 'Sunday Telegraph,' all of which became flourishing concerns. At different times he visit, the Continent, writing for the 'Telegraph' descriptive articles, some of which he republished in book form. For many years vice-chairman of the Sheffield Conservative and Constitutional Association, he was afterwards chairman. In 1895-6 he was elected chairman of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. He was knighted in 1887 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's jubilee. Dying at Sheffield on 20 Feb. 1902, he was buried in Ecclesall churchyard. He married in 1860 Anne (d. 1893), daughter of David Stark of Ruthven, Forfarshire, and widow of Harry Cook of Sandhurst, Australia. Her sister was first wife of his brother John. His two sons, C. D. Leng and W. St. Quentin Leng, became partners in the 'Sheffield Telegraph.' A cartoon portrait by 'Spy' appear in 'Vanity Fair' in 1890.

 LENNOX, CHARLES HENRY GORDON-. [See, sixth first  (1818–1903), lord president of the council.]

LENO, DAN, whose true name was (1860–1904), music-hall singer and dancer, was born on 20 Dec. 1860 at 4 Eve Court, Somers Town, afterwards demolished to make room for St. Pancras terminus. His father and mother, who were known professionally as Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Wilde, were itinerant music - hall performers who trained the child as a tumbler and contortionist. The father at any rate was Irish, and to that circumstance and the boy's occasional sojourns in Ireland may be attributed his marked Irish voice, which was no small part of his attraction in later years. He made his first appearance as early as 1864 as 'Little George, the Infant Wonder, Contortionist and Posturer' in the Cosmotheca off the Edgware Road, since destroyed. His father dying about this time, his mother married another member of the same profession, named Grant, whose stage name was Leno. The boy with his mother, stepfather, and a brother, also an acrobat, began to tour the United Kingdom and to some extent the continent. Described as 'The Great Little Lenos,' the brothers were performing in various places in 1867. The brother soon disappeared, and in 1869 Dan, who had been forced through an accident to substitute clog-dancing for tumbling, was known as 'The Great Little Leno, the Quintessence of Irish Comedians,' and had presumably added singing and patter to his agility. In 1869 he was in Belfast, among the audience being Charles Dickens, then lecturing in Ireland, who is said to have spoken to the boy and prophesied success for him (, Dan Leno, 1905).

The boy's name was changed from George to Dan owing to a misapprehension on the part of either the printer or deviser of 