Robert Leake (1824 – 1 May 1901) was a British Liberal politician. Leake was the eldest son of Robert Leake of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and Mary Lockett of

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

. After a private education he became head of Lockett, Leake and Company, engravers to

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

printers.''The New Members of Parliament'', The Times, 13 April 1880, p.10''Obituary'', The Times, 2 May 1901, p.10 Leake became involved in Liberal politics in Manchester in the 1860s, and was over time president of the Manchester Liberal Association, the Manchester Reform Club and the Liberal Association of Salford. However, he declined to be a parliamentary candidate until the 1880 general election. In that year he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for the two-seat South East Lancashire Division, along with his cousin William Agnew. The

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equa ...

divided the South East Lancashire seat into eight single-member constituencies. Leake was elected as the first MP for the new South East Lancashire, Radcliffe cum Farnworth Division. He was reelected in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

and

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies f ...

. Prior to the 1895 general election, Leake announced his decision to resign.''The Electoral Outlook II: England North of the Trent'', The Times, 31 January 1895, p.6 Leake made his residence at "The Dales", Whitefield, near Manchester. He was married twice.''Biographies of Candidates'', 26 November 1885, p.4

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* 1824 births 1901 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 {{England-Liberal-UK-MP-stub