Mary Leapor was born on the 26^th February 1722 in Marston St. Lawrence, Northamptonshire, the daughter of Philip Leapor (1693-1771), a gardener, and his wife Ann Sharman (d. 1741). Her father worked as a gardener to Sir John Blencowe, a former M. P. for Brackley, Baron of the Exchequer and Justice of Pleas, until Blencowe’s death in 1726. Thereafter he opened a nursery garden in Brackley. Evidence suggests that both he, and Ann Sharman’s family, were literate. Partly self-educated, Leapor probably received a rudimentary education at either a local Dame School, or at the Free School in Brackley on the south side of the chapel belonging to Magdalen College. She began writing young – it has been widely recorded tha

This article in full comprises 3243 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 03 March 2007

Citation: Van-Hagen, Stephen. "Mary Leapor". The Literary Encyclopedia. 3 March 2007.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2658, accessed 9 February 2010.]