W. Keith (William Keith) Leask

Born in Old Aberdeen on April 16, 1857, William Keith Leask was a Scottish writer, editor, and teacher whose career was closely tied to scholarship. He studied at the University of Aberdeen and later at Oxford, and he taught classics at the University of Aberdeen before spending time lecturing at Oxford.

Leask wrote biographies and literary studies aimed at general readers as well as students. Among the best known are his books on James Boswell and Hugh Miller, and he also produced works connected with classical subjects. His writing suggests a talent for making learned material readable without losing its substance.

He later returned to Aberdeen, where he continued writing and editing. Leask died on May 2, 1925. Although he is not widely known today, his books remain part of the long tradition of Scottish literary and historical biography.