User:Henrimerton/sandbox/John Gerard Leigh

John Gerard Leigh was a wealthy steeplechase stud owner, prize pedigree cattle breeder and country sports enthusiast whose seat was at Luton Hoo. His horse Half Caste won the 1859 Grand National and he was Master of Fox Hounds of the Hertfordshire Hunt, succeeding Lord Dacre.

Family Background
John Gerard Leigh was the eldest son of an eldest son, who were both Liverpool solicitors.

His grandfather, John Leigh (1752-1823) was minor gentry, descended from an old Lancashire family from Upton (one of the original four hamlets that now make up Widnes) and born at Farnworth, adjacent to Upton. Although he owned the estate of Lower House in Upton, he chose to live at the Wirral estate of Grange Hall in West Kirby.

Latterly, John Leigh purchased the estate of Sandhills between Liverpool and Bootle where, as well as building a 'handsome house, he had beautiful gardens, complete with hothouses and conservatories'. He also turned much of the pasture land to clay pits and the brickworks needed to fuel the rapid growth of Liverpool. By doing so he reputedly lowered the ground level by seven or eight feet (nearly 2.5 metres) and income from this venture apparently well exceeded the purchase price of the land. In 1810, he bought, for about &pound;10,000, the advowson of the nearby parish of Walton on the Hill (now Walton, a suburb of Liverpool). He, and succeeding generations of his family, are entombed in St Mary's Church.

As well as being a solicitor in Liverpool, John Leigh was also Land Agent (or Steward) to both the Earl of Derby and the Marquess of Salisbury. Any position of Land Agent to aristocracy brought distinct advantages (two contemporaries of his had gained a railway directorship and a seat in Parliament) through insider knowledge and monopolies, but it was acknowledged that John Leigh had the vision, foresight and tenacity, more than any other, to see the future growth of Liverpool and to speculate in land accordingly. But by doing so to such an extent (and on credit), he nearly brought himself and his family to financial ruin.

John Shaw Leigh (1791-1871) was born at Sandhills and carried on his father's law and land agency practice, taking over as Land Agent to the Marquess of Salisbury. He lived for a time at Childwall Hall - Lord Salisbury's first wife was a daughter of Bamber Gascoyne of Childwall Hall. John Shaw Leigh also inherited his father's extensive land holdings and debts. Riches finally came from waiting and then selling or leasing the land to the dock and railway companies - his 1846 sale of land to the Liverpool and Bury Line amounted to &pound;250,000 alone. Further sales of land made him, reputedly, the richest commoner in England.

Following the death of his wife, Hannah (n&eacute;e Blundell Hollinshead) in 1847, he bought the burnt out mansion and estate of Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire that he then had rebuilt for himself and his son, John Gerard Leigh.

Early Life
John Gerard Leigh was the second child but eldest son of seven siblings:
 * 1) Jane Leigh (born 5th January 1820 in Liverpool)
 * 2) John Gerard Leigh (born 8th June 1821 in Liverpool)
 * 3) Henry Blundell Leigh (born 2nd May 1823 in Liverpool)
 * 4) Elizabeth Mary Leigh (born 22nd November 1824 at Edge Lane Hall, West Derby, Lancashire)
 * 5) Thomas Leigh (born 6th May 1826 at Edge Lane Hall)
 * 6) Alice Hannah Leigh (born 5th March 1828 at Edge Lane Hall)
 * 7) Henrietta Leigh (born 21st May 1830 at Edge Lane Hall)

He was baptised 18th May 1822 at St Mary, Walton on the Hill and was brought up firstly in Liverpool, and subsequently at Edge Lane Hall and Childwall Hall nearby.

He is next found at Eton as a fifth form scholar in 1838 (his brother Thomas was in the form below). In the same year, using Eton as his address, he became a member (by annual subscription) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Leigh matriculated at St John's College, Oxford (it had a reputation for law) on 4th March 1841 aged 19 but did not seem to graduate. The only reference to his time at Oxford was that he was 'well known' with the Heythrop Hunt and 'Mr Drake's hounds' - the Bicester Hunt under Thomas Tyrwhitt-Drake (1783-1852).

He was then admitted to membership of Lincoln's Inn on 2nd November 1843 but was not called to the bar as a barrister, thus opting not to follow his father and grandfather actively into the legal profession. Even so, he 'stuck to the firm' helping to manage the Leigh property portfolio whereas his two brothers Henry and Tom, together with elder sister Jane's husband Captain Henry Townshend, were found positions in Allsopps Brewery.

Following the sudden upswing in his family's fortunes and the death of his mother (7th December 1847) at Childwall, he accompanied his father to a new life as a wealthy country gentleman at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire in 1848.

Steeplechase Stud Ownership


Major references to John Gerard Leigh's steeplechasing activities were only recorded in print after the death of his father, John Shaw Leigh, in 1871. His father disapproved of such activities and 'though it was sailing rather near the wind when he went in for Grand National honours, the secret luckily did not reach the parental ears'.

The earliest reference to Leigh and steeplechasing is recorded, though, under his own name in May 1850 when he officiated as Steward at the Harpenden Races. At the same meeting, his horse Reindeer won by 'a couple of lengths' in the Ladies Purse and was consequently sold for 150 sovereigns. Later on the same day, his Phoebus easily won a 100 sovereign match race against Mr Marsh's Gammon.

In Spring 1853 he is twice named as a Steward at the St Albans Steeplechases in late March and the The Hoo Races of Hertfordshire in early April, and he unsuccessfully enters a horse on the second day ('The Steeple Chases') of the Epsom Autumn Meeting in November 1853. The Hoo Races of 1855 show his father acting as a Steward and both John Gerrard Leigh, running Viscount (the 5:2 favourite), and his brother Thomas, riding his horse The Student, in the three-horse Hunters Stakes - after Viscount had led for most of the course, he was easily beaten by Chief Magistrate by two lengths, and Leigh's objection to the winner on the basis of an improper qualification to run was overruled, presumably in part by his father. The last recorded time J. G. Leigh ran under his own name (until the 1870's) was at Croxton Park, Leicestershire in April 1856.

At this point, Leigh's name disappears from the racing press and a number of noms de course appear... Mr Willoughby, Mr Gooderham and Mr Lynton are confirmed aliases, Mr W Briscoe and Mr Halford are almost certainly him as well. All equine business is conducted through the nominee ownership of Samuel Brisco Sheward, a well-known Park Lane / Grosvenor Square horsedealer to the aristocracy. His relationship to Leigh is later summed up as being his Fidus Achates (ie an intimate companion or trusty friend) for the twenty five years preceding Leigh's 1875 death. Sheward supplied most of his high grade steeplechasers, supervised their training and entered into disputes with the racing authorities as 'owner' with the accompanying press pressure.

John Gerrard Leigh (under the name of Mr Willoughby) had his greatest success on winning the 1859 Grand National with Chris Green on Half Caste. He (under the name of Mr Gooderham) also ran Cockatoo in the 1861 Grand National, again ridden by Green. Starting as third favourite (and heavily fancied by his camp) Cockatoo unfortunately fell on the second circuit of the course. Old Oswestry won the Croydon Great Metropolitan Steeplechase in 1865, but was disqualified on a stakes irregularity, allowing second place Cortolvin (winner of the 1867 Grand National) to claim the win. Disturbance (1873) and Reugny (1874) were both winners of the Grand National and were sold into Leigh's stud along with another highly regarded steeplechaser, Defense. Unfortuneately, Leigh's death in 1875 meant they had to be sold again before they could be raced under the Leigh/Sheward silks.

Later Life at Luton Hoo


John Gerard Leigh inherited the manor of Luton and the seat of Luton Hoo upon the death of his father, John Shaw Leigh, on the 15th June 1871. Ten months later, on the 13th April 1872 by special license, he married Eleanor Louisa, widow of the Hon. Humble Dudley Ward (1821–1870) in the chapel of Danbury Palace in Essex.

A few years before that, he had taken on the mastership of the Hertfordshire hounds, succeeding Lord Dacre in February 1866. By 1873 he had "built some magnificent kennels and stables on the site of the old ones at Kennesbourne Green, which are the best in Europe, bar none". When he went out hunting, he usually interchanged three horses of a combined value of £1000.

In mid-1972, John Gerard Leigh accepted the Conservative Party nomination as a candidate for the vacant Parliamentary seat of Bedfordshire. He put forward his stance on political matters at the resultant Tory meeting. This included giving his general support to the Conservative party but with significant caveats: Any teaching had to include religious education, he objected to the then current unequal local taxation and was in favour of social reform, but not anythng like "Mr Bruce's Licensing Bill" or that did not respect individual property rights.