Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/409

 Mary, married Thomas Edward Dicey and was mother of Edward James Stephen Dicey [q. v. Suppl. II] and of Prof. Albert Venn Dicey. His mother, whom Leslie credited with 'strength absolutely free from harshness,' was Jane Catherine, daughter of John Venn, the evangelical rector of Clapham. Her children numbered four sons, of whom Herbert Venn, the eldest, died in 1846 aged twenty-four, and Francis Wilberforce, the second son, died in infancy in 1824. An only daughter, Caroline Emelia, the youngest of the family, is noticed at the close of this article.

In the autumn of 1840 Leslie's parents removed to Brighton for the sake of his health, which suffered from a precociously active brain. There he attended a day school, but on 15 April 1842 he and his brother James Fitzjames entered Eton College as town boys. His parents took a house at Windsor so that their sons might live at home. Leslie made little progress, and was removed by his father at Christmas 1846. After a short experience of a small day school at Wimbledon during 1847, he was sent to King's College, London, on 15 March 1848. There he attended F. D. Maurice's lectures in English literature and history, but they failed to rouse in him any enthusiasm, although his literary sympathies were pronounced from childhood. His health was still uncertain. At Easter 1850 he left King's College. After some coaching at Cambridge from Llewelyn Davies he entered Trinity Hall at Michaelmas 1850. At the end of his first year he won a scholarship in mathematics. To the university Stephen owed an immense debt. His health rapidly improved and became robust, while he quickly assimilated the prevalent atmosphere of dry common-sense. Although mathematics was his chief study, he developed his youthful taste for literature, tried his hand at sketching, and taught himself shorthand, which he practised in correspondence with his sister till the end of his life. He spoke occasionally at the Union Society on the liberal side, and joined the library committee. He was spontaneously drawn to athletics, to which he was previously almost a stranger, and soon distinguished himself as a long-distance runner, a walker of unusual endurance, and 'a fanatical oarsman.' His chief undergraduate friend was Henry Fawcett, who migrated to Trinity Hall in 1853. In Jan. 1854 Stephen was twentieth wrangler in the mathematical tripos. He continued to reside at Cambridge in the hope of gaining a fellowship. In the following long vacation he went to Heidelberg to improve his German.

On 23 Sept. 1854 Stephen was appointed to a Goodbehere fellowship at his college. It was a small post bringing only 100l. a year. Its holder was bound to give some assistance to the two college tutors and to take holy orders within a year. The clerical condition presented no difficulty to Stephen. He had been reared by his parents in orthodox beliefs and had taken them on trust. Accordingly on 21 Dec. 1855 he was ordained deacon by the archbishop of York, and became priest on Trinity Sunday 1859. He pleased his father by entering the church, and the step provided him with a modest livelihood. Meanwhile on 29 April 1856 he was admitted to the junior tutorship which then fell vacant at Trinity Hall, and was only tenable by a clergyman. He occasionally preached in the college chapel and at St. Edward's church in the town, and he taught mathematics to the more promising undergraduates. But his chief energies were absorbed by the social welfare of the college and its athletic prestige, by private study of current literature and philosophy, and by intercourse with the manifest and most enlightened of resident graduates.

Stephen's athletic prowess brought him his first fame. For the college boat, which he coached for many years, he cherished an especial affection (cf. in Macmillan's Magazine, May 1860). His staying power grew as a runner and walker. He walked from Cambridge to dine in London — fifty miles — in twelve hours. In 1860 he won the mile race (5 mins. 4 sec.) at the university athletic games, which he helped to start, and he encouraged the inauguration of the inter-university sports which began in 1864. But it was as a mountaineer that his athletic zeal showed to best advantage. In 1855 he had tramped through the Bavarian highlands in Tyrol, and in 1857, during a holiday spent at Courmayeur, he made, with Francis Galton, his first Swiss ascent — the Col du Géant. Next year, after climbing Monte Rosa, he joined the Alpine Club, of which he remained a member till death. Thenceforth he was an ardent Alpinist and distinguished; himself by many new ascents. In 1860] he described the 'Ascent of the Allalinhorn' in Francis Galton's 'Vacation Tourists' (1861). In 1861 he first vanquished the Schreckhorn in the Oberland and made the passage of the Eiger Joch, writing of these exploits in