Robert Dove Leakey (23 June 1914 – 22 April 2013) was a British inventor, potholer and cave diver. He has been described as the "

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

of potholing". He stood for Parliament in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

; he is thought to be the oldest candidate ever in a UK general election, shortly before his 96th birthday in May 2010.

Early life and family

Leakey was born in Kenya, where his father (Arundell) Gray Leakey was a farmer. Through his great-grandfather James Shirley Leakey, one of the eleven children of the portrait painter

James Leakey James Leakey (1775–1865) was an English landscape and portrait artist. Life Born on 20 September 1775 in Exeter, Devon, he was the son of John Leakey, who was in the wool trade. At the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds's death he was about to becom ...

, he is related to the missionary Rev Henry Leakey, and so to his son and grandson the paleoanthropologists

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

and

Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...

. His older brother Nigel Leakey was posthumously awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

in 1945, for his actions in Ethiopia in 1941. Another relative

Joshua Leakey Colour Sergeant Joshua Mark Leakey (born 1988) is a British soldier currently serving in the Parachute Regiment. In 2015, Leakey was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth armed f ...

was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2015, for his actions in Afghanistan in 2013. His younger brother Rea Leakey survived service in the Second World War, and became a major-general in the British Army. His sister Agnes Leakey (later Agnes Hofmeyr) worked for reconciliation in Kenya. He was educated in Kenya and then at

Weymouth College Weymouth College is a further education college located in Weymouth, England. The college has over 4,000 students, studying on a wide range of practical and academic courses in many subjects. The college is part of The University of Plymouth ...

. He then studied at the Chelsea College of Aeronautical Engineering, and worked for

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

Second World War

While working as an aircraft designer in the Second World War, a

reserved occupation A reserved occupation (also known as essential services) is an occupation considered important enough to a country that those serving in such occupations are exempt or forbidden from military service. In a total war, such as the Second World War, ...

, he discovered the long

Mossdale Caverns Mossdale Caverns is a cave system in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is about north of Grassington, and east of Conistone, where Mossdale Beck sinks at the base of Mossdale Scar. It lies at an altitude of on the eastern flank of Wharfedale, ...

north of

Grassington Grassington is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,126. The village is situated in Wharfedale, about north-west from Bolton Abbey, and is surrou ...

in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

. He was called up for military service in 1942, the year after his brother Nigel was killed in action, and served as a paratrooper in India and Burma. He failed in two attempts to become the first person to climb the

Bandarpunch Bandarpunch (lit. Hindi: ''Monkey's tail'') is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in Uttarakhand, India. The massif has 3 peaks: White Peak (6102 m), also called Banderpunch II, to the west above Yamunotri; almost 5 km east is Banda ...

in the Himalayas.

Later life

After the war, Leakey lived in

Settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an in ...

and then

Giggleswick Giggleswick, a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, lies on the B6480 road, less than north-west of the town of Settle and divided from it by the River Ribble. It is the site of Giggleswick School. Until 1974 it was part ...

in North Yorkshire. He married his wife Barbara (née Fidoe) in 1947. They had two sons and two daughters. He became an inventor, securing 20 patents, including one for a folding

lobster pot A lobster trap or lobster pot is a portable trap that traps lobsters or crayfish and is used in lobster fishing. In Scotland (chiefly in the north), the word Creel (basket), creel was used to refer to a device used to catch lobsters and other c ...

. He also sold fishing equipment, including so-called "Leakey boats". He also served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

in Settle, and as a governor at

Bentham Grammar School Bentham Grammar School was an independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent up ...

. He continued caving and potholing into the 1960s, and he explored

Bar Pot Bar Pot is one of the entrances to the Gaping Gill cave system being located about south of Gaping Gill Main Shaft, on Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales. It is a popular entrance into the system, being one of the easiest, driest, and having ...

and Disappointment Pot in the

Gaping Gill Gaping Gill (also known as Gaping Ghyll) is a natural cave in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the unmistakable landmarks on the southern slopes of Ingleborough – a deep pothole with the stream Fell Beck flowing into it. After fallin ...

cave system. He was noted for his ability to survive with little or no protective gear, occasionally diving naked into sumps deep underground, and has been described as "seemingly oblivious to the cold".

Political career

Leakey wrote many letters of complaint to different politicians and government departments, but denied that he was eccentric. He founded a political party, the Virtue Currency Cognitive Appraisal Party. He stood as a candidate in local council elections, and stood for Parliament in Skipton and Ripon in the

and

UK general elections. As a result, he is thought to be the oldest candidate ever in a UK general election. He was survived by his wife, three of his four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

References

Obituary
The Yorkshire Post, 27 April 2013

The Telegraph, 3 May 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leakey, Bob 1914 births 2013 deaths British cavers Cave diving explorers People educated at Weymouth College (public school) Bob

Early life and family

Second World War

Later life

Political career

See also

References