Colin Leakey

Colin Leakey
Colin Leakey
Born	13 December 1933; Cambridge, England
Died	29 January 2018 (aged 84); Lincoln, England
Education	Gresham's School
Alma mater	Cambridge University (MA, PhD); Exeter University; University of the West Indies, Trinidad,
Known for	World authority on beans
Spouse	Susan
Children	3
Awards	Currie Memorial Prize (Exeter)
	Scientific career
Fields	Plant science
Institutions	Makerere University, Uganda,

Colin Louis Avern Leakey (13 December 1933 – 29 January 2018) was a British plant scientist. He was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge and of the Institute of Biology. He was known for his works on beans.

Leakey was the son of Louis Leakey (1903–1972) and Frida (Avern) Leakey.^[1] He grew up with his mother and sister in Cambridge, and did not see his father again until he was 19.^[2]

Leakey worked as a plant breeder and agricultural advisor for around 60 years.^[3]

Family

James Leakey
(1775–1865)^{[lower-roman 1]}

Eliza Hubbard Woolmer
(1793–1855)^{[lower-roman 2]}

James Shirley Leakey
(1824–1871) ^[source?]

Caroline Woolmer Leakey
(1827–1881)^{[lower-roman 2]}

9 others^{[lower-roman 2]}

Rev. Arundell Leakey
(1853–1924)

Rev. Harry Leakey
(1868–1940)

Elizabeth Laing
(1873–1925)^{[lower-roman 3]}^{[lower-roman 4]}

Arundell Gray Arundell Leakey
(1885–1954)^{[lower-roman 3]}^{[lower-roman 4]}

4 others

Raymond Arundell Leakey
(1887–1976)

Henrietta Wilfrida Avern
(1902–1993)

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey^{[lower-roman 4]}
(1903–1972)

Mary Douglas Nicol
(1913–1996)

3 others

Nigel Gray Leakey
(1913–1941)^{[lower-roman 3]}^{[lower-roman 4]}

Robert Dove Leakey
(1914–2013)

Maj. Gen. Arundell Rea Leakey
(1915–1999)

Agnes Florence Leakey
(1917–2006)^{[lower-roman 4]}

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)

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)

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 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

↑ "Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett (1903–1972), archaeologist and palaeoanthropologist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31343. Retrieved 2020-09-23. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
↑ Morell, Virginia (2011). Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings. p. 244.
↑ Gray, Charlie. "Lunch at Mr Bean's". Seed sovereignty - Gaia Foundation. Retrieved 7 January 2026.

Other websites

LeakeyFoundation.org – The Leakey Foundation: committed to research related to human origins
Talk Origins.org – Louis Leakey

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[4] 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 or UK public library membership required.)

[ramm-5] 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-6] 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-7] 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] "Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett (1903–1972), archaeologist and palaeoanthropologist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31343. Retrieved 2020-09-23. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[passion-2] Morell, Virginia (2011). Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings. p. 244.

[Gray_2021-3] Gray, Charlie. "Lunch at Mr Bean's". Seed sovereignty - Gaia Foundation. Retrieved 7 January 2026.

[1]

Colin Leakey
Born	(1933-12-13)13 December 1933 Cambridge, England
Died	29 January 2018(2018-01-29) (aged 84) Lincoln, England
Education	Gresham's School
Alma mater	Cambridge University (MA, PhD) Exeter University University of the West Indies, Trinidad,
Known for	World authority on beans
Spouse	Susan
Children	3
Awards	Currie Memorial Prize (Exeter)
Scientific career
Fields	Plant science
Institutions	Makerere University, Uganda,