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.^[1]^[2]^[3] 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

Louis Leakey (1903–1972), archaeologist; son of Harry Leakey and cousin of Nigel and Rea Leakey^[4]
Frida Leakey (1902–1993), archaeologist; first wife of Louis Leakey
Mary Leakey (1913–1996), archaeologist; second wife of Louis Leakey^[4]
Colin Leakey (1933–2018), plant scientist; son of Louis Leakey
Meave Leakey (born 1942), palaeoanthropologist; wife of Richard Leakey
Richard Leakey (1944–2022), politician and palaeoanthropologist; son of Louis and Mary Leakey
Louise Leakey (born 1972), paleontologist; daughter of Meave and Richard Leakey, married to Prince Emmanuel de Merode

Military

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
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

Politics

Philip Leakey (born 1949), Kenyan politician; son of Louis and Mary Leakey
Lara Bird (born 1998), Scottish politician, granddaughter of Colin Leakey

Other

James Leakey (1775–1866), artist; grandfather of Harry Leakey and great-great-uncle of Nigel and Rea Leakey
Caroline Leakey (1827–1881), writer; daughter of James Leakey
Phil Leakey (1908–1992), British make-up artist; great-grandson of James Leakey
Arundell Gray Leakey, farmer killed in the Mau Mau Uprising; father of Nigel and Rea Leakey
Robert Leakey (1914–2013), engineer and cave diver; brother of Nigel and Rea Leakey^[5]

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]

8 others^[ii]

Peter Nettleton Leakey
(1830–1906)

Rev. Arundell Leakey
(1853–1924)

Rev. Harry Leakey
(1868–1940)

Alexander Bazett Leakey
(1879–1961)

Elizabeth Laing
(1873–1925)^[iii]^[iv]

Arundell Gray Leakey
(1885–1954)^[iii]^[iv]

4 others

Raymond Arundell Leakey
(1887–1976)

Henrietta Wilfrida Avern
(1902–1993)

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey^[iv]
(1903–1972)

Mary Douglas Nicol
(1913–1996)

3 others

Phil Leakey
(1908–1992)

Alexander Graham Leakey
(1911–1994)

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]

Ian Raymond Arundell Leakey
(1924–2020)

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)

Mary Anne Leakey

Lt. Gen. Arundell David Leakey
(b. 1952)

Mark Leakey
(b. 1956)

Tamsin Leakey

Charles Bird
(b. 1954)

Louise Leakey
(b. 1972)

Emmanuel,
Prince de Mérode
(b. 1970)

Olivia Colman
(b. 1974)

Joshua Leakey
(b. 1988)

Lara Bird
(b. 1998)

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, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
1 2 3 "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)
1 2 3 "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.
1 2 3 4 5 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

↑ TIME (1999-03-29). "Anthropologists: THE LEAKEY FAMILY". TIME. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
↑ "BBC World Service - Omnibus, The Leakey Family". BBC. 1985-11-19. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
↑ "A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: The Leakey family". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
1 2 The Leakey Foundation, "About" page. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
↑ "Bob Leakey". The Daily Telegraph. 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.

[6] 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, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)

[ramm-7] 1 2 3 "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)

[nigel-gray-leaky-cwgc-8] 1 2 3 "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.

[agnes-leakey-obit-9] 1 2 3 4 5 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.

[1] TIME (1999-03-29). "Anthropologists: THE LEAKEY FAMILY". TIME. Retrieved 2026-06-25.

[2] "BBC World Service - Omnibus, The Leakey Family". BBC. 1985-11-19. Retrieved 2026-06-25.

[3] "A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: The Leakey family". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2026-06-25.

[foundation-4] 1 2 The Leakey Foundation, "About" page. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

[5] "Bob Leakey". The Daily Telegraph. 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[i]

[ii]

[iii]

[iv]