Frederick Richards Leyland (30 September 1831 – 4 January 1892) was one of the largest British shipowners, running 25 steamships in the transatlantic trade. He was also a major art collector, who commissioned works from several of the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...

painters.

Career

Leyland served as an apprentice in the firm of John Bibby, Sons & Co, where he rose to become a partner. In 1867, he took on the tenancy of

Speke Hall Speke Hall is a wood-framed wattle-and-daub Tudor manor house in Speke, Liverpool, England. It is one of the finest surviving examples of its kind. It is owned by the National Trust and is a Grade I listed building. History Construction o ...

, Liverpool, and in 1869 bought a house in London at 49 Princes Gate. At the end of 1872, when the Bibby partnership dissolved, he bought out his employers and changed the company name to the

Leyland Line The Leyland Line was a British shipping transport line founded in 1873 by Frederick Richards Leyland after his apprenticeship in the firm of John Bibby, Sons & Co. After Frederick Leyland's death, the company was taken over by Sir John Eller ...

in 1873. Under his direction the line expanded into transatlantic trade and by 1882 had 25 steamships. He retired from active business in 1888, leaving his son Frederick Dawson Leyland in charge.Linda Merrill
"Leyland, Frederick Richards (1831–1892)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2015]

Art patron

Leyland's first commissions were to

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

and

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

, dating from 1864 and 1867. Leyland collected Renaissance art, as well as that of the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti ...

, Whistler and Albert Moore. Leyland commissioned ''

The Beguiling of Merlin ''The Beguiling of Merlin'' is a painting by the British Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones that was created between 1872 and 1877. The painting depicts a scene from the Arthurian legend about the infatuation of Merlin with the Lady of th ...

'', a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite painter

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

, which was created between 1872 and 1877. The painting depicts a scene from

Arthurian According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

legend, the infatuation of

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

with the

Lady of the Lake The Lady of the Lake (, , , , ) is a title used by multiple characters in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. As either actually fairy or fairy-like yet human enchantres ...

, Nimue. Merlin is shown trapped, helpless in a hawthorn bush as Nimue reads from a book of spells. In the 1870s, Leyland commissioned Whistler and Jeckyll to decorate his dining room. The resulting ''

Peacock Room ''Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room'' (better known as ''The Peacock Room'') is a work of interior decorative art created by James McNeill Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll, translocated to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Whist ...

'' is considered one of Whistler's greatest works. After Leyland's death, his widow sold ''The Peacock Room'' to the American industrialist and art collector

Charles Lang Freer Charles Lang Freer (February 25, 1854 – September 25, 1919) was an American industrialist, art collector, and patron. He is known for his large collection of Asian art, East Asian, Visual art of the United States, American, and Middle Eastern a ...

who had it dismantled and shipped to the United States. It is now in the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trus ...

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...

in Washington, DC.

Later life

Leyland died in 1892, one of the largest shipowners in Britain, and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

, London. The grave is 10m west of the main path between the north entrance and colonnade but is highly recognisable due to its unique form and design.

Legacy

In 1892, John Ellerman made his first move into shipping by leading a consortium which purchased the Leyland Line of the late Frederick Richards Leyland. In 1901, Ellerman sold this business to

J.P. Morgan JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * '' Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Pa ...

for £1.2 million, which was immediately folded into the International Mercantile Marine Co. Leyland's

funerary monument Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

is the only such work by

– the finest

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

funerary monument in the UK, and

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

* listed.

Personal life

Leyland married Frances ''née'' Dawson (1834–1910) on 23 March 1855, but they separated in 1879, possibly because of his liaison with his married mistress Rosa Laura Caldecott,'' née'' Gately (d. 1890). He and Frances had four children together: Frederick Dawson (b. 1856), Fanny (b. 1857), Florence (b. 1859, married

Valentine Cameron Prinsep Valentine Cameron Prinsep (14 February 1838 – 4 November 1904) was a British painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school. Early life Born in Calcutta, India, he was the second child of Henry Thoby Prinsep, a civil servant of the British Raj, and hi ...

), and Elinor (1861–1952). Rosa bore a son named Frederick Richards Leyland Caldecott in 1883. Leyland had two further sons with his mistress Annie Ellen Wooster, Frederick Richards (b.1884) and Francis George Leyland Wooster (b.1890).

References

External links

"Leyland, Frederick Richards (1831–1892)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004

at

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Leyland Line History and Ephemera
GG Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyland, Frederick Richards 1831 births 1892 deaths English philanthropists English art collectors Burials at Brompton Cemetery Businesspeople from Liverpool English art patrons 19th-century English businesspeople