William John Leech

Son of the Regius Professor of Law at trinity Collage, Dublin, William Leech trained briefly at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in 1898 before going to study at the Royal Hibernian Academy School. There he was tutored by Walter Osborne, who he said taught him all his most valuable lessons. He completed his studies in Paris at the Academie Julian. Before returning to Ireland he spent time painting in Brittany, particularly around Concarneau. In 1910 he was elected a member of the RHA and in the same year he moved to London. Thereafter Leech divided his time between England and France. He died in 1968 in Guildford, Surrey, where he had settled with his second wife May Botterell.