Sylvester Leon left the United States for England around 1900. In England he found work, for a time in a commercial firm, and then as an assistant junior master at a Grammar School. There he had considerable success at coaching boys for examinations. He was also continuing his studies, with a view to entering a university.
Student record from Birmingham University
Apparently he won a scholarship, which was announced in the Daily Gleaner in early September 1903:
'Friends and old schoolfellows of Mr. P. Sylvester Leon . . . will be glad to hear he has won a Scholarship tenable at the Birmingham University for three to five years. He will commence his studies at the beginning of the next session, October 5th, 1903. We wish him a successful career.'
September 4, 1903, p 11
He thus attended Birmingham University in the academic year 1903-4, having completed matriculation in September 1903 by passing an examination in Physiography. In June 1904 he passed the Inter B.A. Examinations in Latin, English, French, Logic and History, with 2nd class honours. He left Birmingham after the one year, without being awarded any degree or diploma, and no reason is indicated for this action.
The Mermaid Vol 1, No 1, October 1904 The Mermaid Tavern, on Bread Street in Cheapside in London, was the meeting place for a group of writers including Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare; they belonged to what was called the Friday Street Club, or the Mermaid Club.
While at Birmingham he was Secretary of the Literary and Dramatic Society, which the 1910 Gleaner article claims he founded.
On another page of the issue of The Mermaidindicated above, was the cryptic comment -
‘Mr. Patrice Sylvester Leon is believed to have returned to his native wilds.’
The Gleaner article claims that he also studied at Oxford, graduating with the degree of B.A., and that he won many prizes at various stages of his educational advance, being Historical Dissertation Prizeman, and that he took Honours in Modern European History and Literature. These claims have not so far been confirmed, and further research will be needed to investigate them.
Having completed three years at university, Sylvester Leon decided to remain in the U.K. and become an actor and playwright.
After completing his academic studies Leon apparently moved on into the theatrical world, performing with the companies of the well-known actor-managers F. R. Benson, Lewis Waller and Arthur Bourchier. While acting in top English theatres he won critical praise for his performances of Shylock, Hamlet, Mark Antony, David Garrick, and Marat in his own play, “Charlotte Corday". While these claims were made in the Jamaican press, some detailed research in newspapers of the time in the United Kingdom will be necessary to ascertain when and where he performed.
F. R. Benson, 1905
It is not clear how successful Sylvester Leon's career on the British stage actually was , but some time in the early part of 1908 he linked up with the Jamaica Choir, which was in the final year of its great tour of Britain. Perhaps things had not been going all that well!
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