- Leeves, Rev. William
[E] Leeves, Rev. William, clergyman and
composer, born on June 11, 1748. He was
Rector of Wrington, Somerset, from 1779.
He died at Wrington, May 25, 1828. Com-
poser of " Auld Robin Gray," 1770, a song
known throughout the world. The words by
Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) are so natural
and true to life that the musical aid afforded
by Leeves' setting is not, as some suppose, the
chief reason for its popularity. Leeves wrote
much church music, now completely forgotten,
among it being " Six Sacred Songs, .with a
corrected copy in its original simplicity of the
well-known ballad, " Auld Robin Gray,"
London, 1812. See " In Memoriam, with a
few notices of other members of his family,
printed for private circulation," 1873, ports.entry id: 242-R-57
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