Derrick Lewis Leon (1908–1944) was a British author, who was born in London in 1908, and died of tuberculosis in November 1944, aged 36, shortly after completing the first draft of his biography of
John Ruskin (''Ruskin: The Great Victorian''), published by
Routledge & Kegan Paul
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
in 1949.
Leon made his living as an interior decorator, but by the time of his death, he had earned himself a reputation as a fine biographer, with works on
Leo Tolstoy and
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
. Leon had also published three novels before his death. The first one, ''Livingstones; A Novel of Contemporary Life'' was published in 1933; ''Wilderness'' was published in 1935; and ''Green for a Season'' was published in 1938.
His biography of Ruskin cast new light on John Ruskin's personal tragedies, as well as his public life and his work. After Leon's death, his biography of Ruskin was subjected to a quotation check and grammatical corrections by George Leon, his brother, who was a quantity-surveyor by profession.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Derrick
20th-century British male writers
1908 births
1944 deaths
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in England
20th-century British novelists
British male novelists
British biographers