Leicester Clarence Hemingway (April 1, 1915 – September 13, 1982) was an American writer. He was the younger brother of writer

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

and wrote six books, including a first novel entitled ''The Sound of the Trumpet'' (1953), based on Leicester's experiences in France and Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1961, Leicester published ''My Brother, Ernest Hemingway'', a biography. The work was well-received and brought Leicester both recognition as a writer in his own right and significant financial rewards. With the capital from the work, Hemingway created the

micronation A micronation is a political entity whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by world governments or major international organizations. Micronations are classified ...

of New Atlantis on a raft off the coast of Jamaica, intended to serve as a marine research headquarters. The project was cut short when New Atlantis was destroyed in a 1966

tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

Early life and family

Hemingway was born in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated ...

, to Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a physician, and

Grace Hall Hemingway Grace Ernestine Hall Hemingway ( Hall; June 15, 1872 – June 28, 1951) was an American opera singer, music teacher, and painter. She was Ernest Hemingway's mother. Early life Grace Ernestine Hall was born on June 15, 1872 in Chicago. ...

, a musician. He was the youngest of six siblings, the others being Marcelline (1898 - 1963),

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor * Ernest, ...

(1899 - 1961), Ursula (1902 - 1966), Madelaine (1904 - 1995), and Carol (1911 - 2002).

Personal life

Hemingway married twice. With his first wife, Patricia "Patti" Shedd, he had two sons, Jacob Edmonds and Peter. With his second wife, Doris Mae Dunning, he had two daughters, Anne and author Hilary Hemingway.

Suicide

In 1982, Hemingway killed himself with a gunshot to the head,Michael Largo - ''Genius and Heroin''
/ref> after having suffered several years from

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urinatio ...

, which required several operations.

New Atlantis

Hemingway founded his micronation of New Atlantis on an 8 foot by 30 foot (2.5 m x 9 m)

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

he had towed 12

nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...

(22 km) out from Jamaica, in July 1964. He utilized the 1856

Guano Islands Act The Guano Islands Act (, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession, in the name of the United States, of unclai ...

to claim half of the raft as a new nation and half for the United States. Hemingway also "wrote" a constitution, which was a copy of the U.S. Constitution with the words "New Atlantis" substituted for "United States". New Atlantis' purpose was to generate money for oceanographic research by selling coins and stamps. In 1966, the micronation was ravaged by a storm and then ransacked by fishermen.

References

Sources

Leicester Hemingway, 1915-1982; New Atlantis Collection, 1964-66
Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin * Samuel Pyeatt Menefee, "Republics of the Reefs: Nation-Building on the Continental Shelf and in the World's Oceans", ''California Western Journal of International Law'', vol. 25, no. 1, Fall, 1994, pp. 104–05. * Family records {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemingway, Leicester 1915 births 1982 deaths Micronational leaders Writers from Oak Park, Illinois Hemingway family 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers 1982 suicides Suicides by firearm in Florida