Frederick Leach
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Frederick Richard Leach (1837–1904) was an English master decorator, mural and stained glass painter based in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. He worked with the architects
George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott and worked with C. E. Kempe. He was in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career and was ...
and George Gilbert Scott Junior, the designer
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
and the church craftsman
Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...
on many Victorian
Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
churches, Cambridge college interiors and church restorations.


Biography

Leach was born in Cambridge, where his father, Richard Hopkins Leach was an artist and craftsman. It is uncertain how he was educated, although he clearly was highly literate and erudite, with a good knowledge of art and literature. At 17 he resolved to use his talents for God. A sincere member of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
, his personal beliefs tended towards
low church In Anglican Christianity, the term ''low church'' refers to those who give little emphasis to ritual, often having an emphasis on preaching, individual salvation, and personal conversion. The term is most often used in a liturgical sense, denot ...
Anglicanism. His preferred place of worship was Christ Church, Cambridge, an early Victorian structure, where he made the east window, but he worked on many high church (or
Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...
) commissions, thinking that this was for the glory of God, employing the maxim 'to work is to pray'. In 1862 he bought a premises in City Road, Cambridge, which became both his home and the headquarters of his business as an artist-craftsman. As his trade expanded he established a showroom in St Mary's Passage, on the west side of Market Hill in Cambridge. Leach emerged as a nationally known artist-craftsman in 1866, when he worked with Bodley and Kempe on the decoration of St John the Baptist's church at Tuebrook in Liverpool and with William Morris on the ceiling decorations of the chapel of
Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...
. Subsequent collaborations with Bodley included the roof and organ loft of
St Botolph's Church, Cambridge St Botolph's Church, Cambridge is a Church of England parish church in the city of Cambridge, England. The church is a Grade I listed building. History The church is dedicated to Botolph, a seventh-century abbot in East Anglia, who is a patron s ...
, the interior decoration of St Salvador's Church, Dundee and the decoration of the dining hall in
Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...
. He was responsible for much of the decorations of the walls and ceilings of All Saints, Cambridge, one of Bodley's most significant works. He also carried out Morris's redesign for the roof of the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...
in 1875 Frederick Leach was a close friend of Charles Eamer Kempe, doing much to help Kempe start as a stained glass craftsman, although their relationship seems to have cooled after 1872. In 1866 Leach was contracted by William Beaumont to paint the organ pipes and front during the restoration of St Michael's, Cambridge, and, after Beaumont's death, by George Gilbert Scott Junior for the reredos over a two-year period from 1872 to 1874 at a fee of £203-16-2. In 1874, Leach painted the roof, without payment, as a thanks offering to God. Frederick Leach's most significant original commission was probably the interior decoration of St Clement's Church, Cambridge. Here he was responsible for the entire interior decoration, which included some elaborate wall paintings that he personally devised and executed. Much of this has been lost, apart from the rood beam, and an impressively large painting on the east wall of the chancel showing Jesus as the divine head and great high priest of the church, surrounded by biblical figures and saints.Robinson and Wildman, 1980, 25; Halliday, 2016, 12–13. Other Cambridgeshire commissions included the windows of St Peter's, Barton. Leach painted the sundial of Queens' College Cambridge in 1864 and his firm was to repaint it in 1911. In 1880 he received a prestige commission to work on the interior of
St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...
in London, although it is uncertain how much of his work might have survived. Frederick Leach married Mary Ann Goodenough in 1864: they had four sons who grew to adulthood: Barnett (1864–1949), Frederick (1869–1948), Walter (1870–1934) and Charles (1875–1961). While Charles emigrated to Canada, his three older sons went into business with him: thus his company name was changed to 'F. R. Leach and Sons'. In 1893 Frederick moved from City Road to a new 'arts and crafts' style house, 'St George's' in De Freville Avenue in Chesterton, a village on the north side of Cambridge. He died on 18 December 1904 and was buried in the churchyard of
St Andrew's Church, Chesterton St Andrew's Church, Chesterton is a Church of England parish church in Chesterton, Cambridge. It is a Grade I listed building. A church was first recorded on this site around 1200. The church was presented in 1217 to the papal legate, Cardinal G ...
. Frederick's three older sons, Barnett, Frederick and Charles continued the family business as artist-craftsmen, but financial difficulties led to the company being placed into liquidation in 1916. After this the brothers pursued separate careers.


David Parr House

David Parr, an employee of F. R. Leach and sons, decorated the interior of his house in an elaborate neo-Gothic style. The house, 186 Gwydir Street, Cambridge, opened to the public in May 2019 and became a Grade II* listed building in 2020. At the same time, the Leach's showroom at 3 St Mary's Passage was listed Grade II.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Frederick 1837 births 1904 deaths 19th-century English artists 19th-century English painters Artists from Cambridge British stained glass artists and manufacturers English male painters English muralists People from Chesterton, Cambridge Guild of St George