Leslie Stephen, the youngest of the Stephens children, was born in London in 1832, the son of Sir Leslie Stephen, the historian; and Julia Prinsep, daughter of Edward Lushington. Soon after his birth his parents moved to Norfolk, where he began his education at home, under teachers of more than ordinary ability. He was sent to Charterhouse School in 1843 and became a good friend of Charles Darwin's there. In 1848 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge; he gained a double first in classical scholarship and made the acquaintance of William Thackeray and Charles Dickens
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In 1853 he married Georgiana Elizabeth Browne: they had two sons and three daughters. At Cambridge Stephen had been at the top of his class and had won a fellowship that enabled him to study for a year at Berlin University.