John Kirkwood Leys

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John Kirkwood Leys (* 1847 in Glasgow ; † 1909 ) was a Scottish lawyer and writer.

Live and act

Leys was a son of the Reverend Peter Leys in Strathaven ( Lanarkshire ). He received his first lessons from his father, and later he attended a school in Glasgow. He then studied law at the University of Glasgow and graduated in 1869 with an MA .

Soon afterwards Leys went to London and became a member of the Middle Temple there in 1874 . In the same year he settled in Newcastle upon Tyne and worked there as a lawyer. In this city he married and had two sons with his wife († 1876).

His second wife, Ellen Holligan, married Leys in 1889 and had five children with her, including the later writers Mary Dorothy Leys (1891-1967) and Helen Madeline Teys (1892-1965).

In parallel to his job, Leys began to write novels in Newcastle and had great success in 1888 with his first work "The Lindsays". When he was able to repeat this success with other novels, he gave up his profession and devoted himself only to writing.

Works (selection)

Non-fiction
  • A complete time-table to the rules under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1875 . London 1875.
  • A new natural history of birds, beasts and fishes . London 1886.
Fiction
  • The lawyer's secret . Warne Books, London 1897.
    • German: The lawyer's secret. Novel . Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1901 (2 vol.)
  • Children of mammon . Digby Long, London 1919.
  • Shackled by fate . Digby Long, London 1919.
  • A desperate game . Digby Long, London 1906.
  • By creek and jungle . Partridge, London 1910.
  • The missing bridegroom . Digby Long, London 1908.
  • The house-boat mystery . Ward Press, London 1905.
  • The Lindsays. A romance of Scottish life . Chatto & Windus, London 1888 (3 vol.)
  • Under a mask . Bentley Books, London 1898 (2 vols.)
  • At the sign of the Golden Horn . George Newnes, London 1898.
  • The black terror. A romance of London . Sampson Low, London 1899.
  • A suburban venedetta . Pearson Press, London 1900.
  • A sore temptation . Chatto & Windus, London 1901.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Leys, John Kirkwood
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish lawyer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow
DATE OF DEATH 1909