Sir John Leigh, 1st Baronet
Sir John Leigh, 1st Baronet (of Altrincham) (3 August 1884 – 28 July 1959)[1] was a British mill-owner, who used his fortune to buy a newspaper and launch his career as a Conservative Party politician.
Leigh was educated at Manchester Grammar School,[2] and made his fortune in the Lancashire cotton industry. He was made a baronet in February 1918, of Altrincham in Cheshire,[1][3] and at some point around 1921 he purchased the Pall Mall Gazette newspaper.[2][4] He was rumoured at the time to be worth fourteen million pounds.[5]
He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Clapham division of Wandsworth at a by-election in May 1922 after the resignation of the Conservative MP Sir Arthur du Cros, and held the seat until he retired from politics at the 1945 general election.[6]
References
- 1 2 "Baronetcies beginning with "L" (part 2)". Leigh Rayment's Baronetage pages. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- 1 2 "Sir John Leigh, 1st Bt.". ThePeerage.com. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 30544. p. 2484. 26 February 1918. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ↑ "The Beaverbrook Papers". Parliamentary archives. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ↑ "The British Press". Frankfurter Zeitung. 30 July 1922 and August 1922. Retrieved 3 May 2009. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 57. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir John Leigh
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Arthur du Cros, Bt. |
Member of Parliament for Clapham 1922 – 1945 |
Succeeded by John Battley |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Baronet (of Altrincham) 1918–1959 |
Succeeded by John Leigh |