Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Leathes, Stanley
LEATHES, STANLEY (1830–1900), hebraist, son of Chaloner Stanley Leathes, rector of Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, was born at Ellesborough on 21 March 1830. He was educated privately and at Jesus College, Cambridge, in which university he graduated B.A. in 18-52, was elected first Tyrwhitt's Hebrew scholar in 1853, and proceeded M.A. in 1855. In 1885 he was elected honorary fellow of Jesus College. He was ordained deacon in 1856 and priest in 1857, and was curate successively of St. Martin's, Salisbury (1856-8), St. Luke's, Berwick Street, Westminster (1858), and St. James's, Westminster (1858-60), in which last parish he was appointed in 1860 to the freehold office of 'clerk in orders,' to that of priest and assistant in 1865, and to the perpetual curacy of St. Philip's, Regent Street, in 1869. He was elected in 1863 professor of Hebrew at King's College, London, and in 1870 member of the Old Testament revision committee, in the labours of which he took an assiduous part until their conclusion in 1885. He was Boyle lecturer 1868–70, Hulsean lecturer 1873, Bampton lecturer 1874, and Warburton lecturer 1876–1880. He was installed prebendary of Addington Major in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1876, and instituted in 1880 to the rectory of Cliffe-at-Hoo, Kent, which he exchanged in 1889 for the more valuable benefice of Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, where he died on 30 April 1900.
Leathes's churchmanship was of the moderate type, equally removed from ritualism and rationalism (see his Unity of the Church, a sermon, London, 1868, 8vo; Future Probation, London, 1876, 8vo; and 'Life and Times of Irenæus' in Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, ed. Dean Lefroy, London, 1896, 8vo). He was a sound Hebrew scholar, a singularly cautious critic, and a sober but uncompromising apologist. The following are his principal works: 1. 'The Birthday of Christ: its Preparation, Message, and Witness. Three Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge,' Cambridge, 1866, 8vo. 2. 'A Short Practical Hebrew Grammar; with an Appendix containing the Hebrew Text of Gen. i–vi. and Psalms i–vi.,' London, 1868, 8vo. 3. Boyle Lectures ' (three series ): 'The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ,' London, 1868, 8vo; 'The Witness of St. Paul to Christ,' London, 1869, 8vo; 'The Witness of St. John to Christ,' London, 1870, 8vo. 4. 'The Evidential Value of St. Paul's Epistles,' a lecture printed in 'Modern Scepticism,' London (C.E.S.), 1871, 8vo. 5. 'Truth and Life; or, Short Sermons for the Day,' London, 1872, 8vo. 6. 'The Cities visited by St. Paul,' London (S.P.C.K.), 1873, 8vo. 7. 'The Structure of the Old Testament: a series of Popular Essays,' London, 1883, 8vo. 8. Hulsean Lectures: 'The Gospel its own Witness,' London, 1874, 8vo. 9. Bampton Lectures: 'The Religion of the Christ: its Historic and Literary Development considered as an Evidence of its Origin,' London, 1874, 8vo. 10. 'The Christian Creed: its Theory and Practice,' London, 1877, 8vo. 11. 'Grounds of Christian Hope: a Sketch of the Evidences of Christianity,' London (R.T.S.), 1877, 8vo. 12. ' The Relation of the Jews to their own Scriptures,' in 'The Jews in relation to the Church and the World,' ed. Claughton, London, 1877, 8vo. 13. 'Studies in Genesis,' London, 1880, 8vo. 14. Warburton Lectures: 'Old Testament Prophecy: its Witness as a Record of Divine Foreknowledge,' London, 1880, 8vo. 15. 'The Foundations of Morality: being Discourses on the Ten Commandments, with special reference to their Origin and Authority,' London, 1882, 8vo. 16. 'Characteristics of Christianity,' London, 1884, 8vo. 17. 'Christ and the Bible. Four Lectures,' London, 1885, 8vo. 18. 'The Law in the Prophets,' London, 1891, 8vo. 19. 'The Testimony of the Earlier Prophetic Writers to the Primal Religion of Israel,' in 'Present Day Tracts,' vol. xiv., London, 1898, 8vo.
[Grad. Cant.; Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1899; Men of the Time, 1895; Times, 1 May 1900.]