Partly self-educated, she probably received a rudimentary education at either a local
dame school, or at the local free school in
Brackley on the south side of the Chapel. According to her father she began writing "tolerably" at the age of 10. Her father recollected, "She would often be scribbling, and sometimes in Rhyme," but that her mother ended up discouraging the writing, requesting she find some "more profitable employment". She was fortunate enough to attain a position as kitchen maid with Susanna Jennens ("Parthenissa" in Leapor's poetry), who apparently encouraged her writing and allowed her the use of her library. Jennens wrote poetry herself and had connections to both
Mary Astell and
Mary Wortley Montagu. Not all employers were so accommodating and Leapor's devotion to writing led to her dismissal from a subsequent position with Sir Richard Chauncy's family, as she apparently would not stop writing even in the kitchen. In 1784 an account was published in ''
The Gentleman's Magazine'', possibly by Chauncy's son, allegedly describing Chauncy's remembrances of the poet. According to this piece, Leapor's "fondness for writing verses there displayed itself by her sometimes taking up her pen while the jack was standing still, and the meat scorching … He represented her as having been extremely swarthy, and quite emaciated, with a long crane-neck, and a short body, much resembling, in shape, a bass-viol." She returned home to Brackley to care for her widowed father in 1744 or 1745, and despite many responsibilities and not being in the best of health herself, she continued to write, so that her work circulated in the town. As a consequence she met Bridget Freemantle (1698–1779), the daughter of a former rector, who became both her friend and mentor. This relationship seems to have marked a turning point for Leapor and she wrote the bulk of her work in a very short period. It was Freemantle who suggested that Leapor publish a volume of poetry by subscription. She also attempted to have a play of hers, a blank-verse tragedy called
The Unhappy Father, staged in London at the Covent Garden Theatre. (A second play remained unfinished.) Neither venture was immediately successful. Leapor died of measles at Brackley on 12 November 1746 at the age of 24. The Bishop's Transcripts of the Parish Records record that she was buried "in woollen" two days later in Brackley. Although Mary is thought to have lived in the south Brackley area known as Goose Green, which had its own church of St James (now demolished), George Baker in a description of the parish church of St Peter with St James in volume 1 of his
History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (published 1822–1830) suggests that Mary is buried in St Peter's churchyard. Some proceeds from the publication of Volume One of her
Poems Upon Several Occasions were used to pay for a headstone, but this has been lost. According to Mary's contemporary, Henry Purefoy and George Baker, the headstone read, "In Memory of Mary Leapor daughter of Phillip and Ann Leapor: who departed this life Nov. ye 26. 1746 Aged 24". The date of death on the headstone is believed to be incorrect; the Bishop's Transcript has the definitive record of the date. Bridget Freemantle continued her quest to publish Leapor's work. In 1748 she arranged for the
posthumous publication of
Poems upon Several Occasions with some 600 subscribers, for the benefit of Philip Leapor. A second volume of poetry and drama was published three years later by
Samuel Richardson and edited by
Isaac Hawkins Browne.
Mary Delany,
Stephen Duck,
Elizabeth Montagu, and
Sarah Scott were among the subscribers. These volumes secured Leapor's reputation as "one of the most interesting of the natural poets."
John Duncombe praised her in
The Feminead (1754), and
Bonnell Thornton and
George Colman included her in their
Poems by Eminent Ladies (1755). Leapor herself seems not to have welcomed her status as a "natural" poet "untainted" by artifice. She worked hard to acquire a literary education as best she could and embraced the
neoclassical ideals of her period. At the time of her death she had accumulated 17 volumes and several volumes of plays: a considerable library for someone with a limited income. There are many grammatical errors in Leapor's work, for which Freemantle apologises in the Preface to the "Poems Upon Several Occasions", assuring readers that had Leapor lived to edit them, the poems would have been flawless. She adds that they are, nevertheless, entertaining. ==Commemorations==