(1889– ).

Educationist.

A new biography of Wild, Leonard John appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Leonard John Wild was born at Oraki, Southland, on 28 October 1889 and educated at Southland Boys' High School and Otago University. Entering the teaching profession in 1911, he was science master at Marlborough High School for three years, and in 1914–15 science master at Wanganui Collegiate School. During the next five years he lectured in chemistry at Lincoln College, and in 1921 at Christchurch Teachers' Training College. With the founding of the Feilding Agricultural High School in 1922, he became its first headmaster, raising its standard and repute to a distinguished level. He retired from this post in 1946 and, two years later, became Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand. He has been associated with several cultural and social organisations and was for a term president of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand and an honorary life member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. His publications include Soils and Manures in New Zealand (Sixth edition 1960), Experiment in Self Government (1938), The Head's Letters to School (1938), Life and Times of Sir James Wilson of Bulls (1953), and The Development of Agricultural Education in New Zealand (1952). He delivered the first Hilgendorf Memorial Lecture in 1946; and in 1957 was awarded an honorary D.Sc. by the University of New Zealand, having graduated M.A. in 1910 and B.Sc. in 1913. In 1946 he was awarded O.B.E., and C.B.E. in 1952.