# Frederick Leach

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{{Short description|British artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Frederick Richard Leach'''  (1837–1904) was an English master decorator, mural and stained glass painter based in [Cambridge](/source/Cambridge). He worked with the architects [George Frederick Bodley](/source/George_Frederick_Bodley) and [George Gilbert Scott Junior](/source/George_Gilbert_Scott_Junior), the designer [William Morris](/source/William_Morris) and the church craftsman [Charles Eamer Kempe](/source/Charles_Eamer_Kempe) on many Victorian [Gothic revival](/source/Gothic_Revival_architecture) churches, Cambridge college interiors and church restorations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Halliday|first=Robert|date=2016|title=F. R, Leach and the Leach family, Cambridge artist craftsmen|journal=Ecclesiology Today|volume=53|pages=3–34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=George Frederick Bodley and the later Gothic revival in Britain and America|last=Hall|first=Michael|publisher=Yale|year=2014|isbn=9780300208023|location=Newhaven, CT}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Morris and Company in Cambridge|last1=Robinson|first1=Duncan|last2=Wildman|first2=Stephen|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1980|isbn=0521233100|location=Cambridge|url=https://archive.org/details/morriscompanyinc00robi}}</ref>

==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](/source/Church_of_England), his personal beliefs tended towards [low church](/source/low_church) 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](/source/Anglo-Catholicism)) commissions, thinking that this was for the glory of God, employing the maxim ['to work is to pray'](/source/Ora_et_labora).

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](/source/St_Mary's_Street%2C_Cambridge), on the west side of  [Market Hill](/source/Market_Hill%2C_Cambridge) in Cambridge.<ref>Halliday, op. cit., 5–7.</ref>

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](/source/Church_of_Saint_John_the_Baptist%2C_Liverpool) at Tuebrook in Liverpool and with William Morris on the ceiling decorations of the chapel of [Jesus College, Cambridge](/source/Jesus_College%2C_Cambridge).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rodgers|first=David|title=A Catalogue of the Original Designs by Morris and Company in the Collection of the William Morris Society.|url=http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/AU98.13.1.Rodgers.pdf|journal=William Morris Society Journal|access-date=2013-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525195426/http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/AU98.13.1.Rodgers.pdf|archive-date=2014-05-25|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridge2000.com/gallery/html/P3283794e.html|title=Image of the roof of Jesus College chapel}}</ref><ref>Robinson and Wildman 1980, 33–6.</ref> Subsequent collaborations with Bodley included the roof and organ loft of [St Botolph's Church, Cambridge](/source/St_Botolph's_Church%2C_Cambridge),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcassociates.co.uk/downloads/botolph.pdf|title=Conservation of the Chancel Paintings at St Botolph's Church, Cambridge}}</ref> the interior decoration of [St Salvador's Church, Dundee](/source/St_Salvador's_Church%2C_Dundee)<ref>Hall, 1980, 136; Halliday 2016, 16–17.</ref> and the decoration of the dining hall in [Queens' College, Cambridge](/source/Queens'_College%2C_Cambridge). He was responsible for much of the decorations of the walls and ceilings of [All Saints, Cambridge](/source/All_Saints%2C_Cambridge), one of Bodley's most significant works.<ref>{{cite book|last=Searby|first=Peter|title=A history of the University of Cambridge.|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0521350603|page=41|edition=3rd pr.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=Charles|title=William Morris : design and enterprise in Victorian Britain|year=1991|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=0719024196|edition=Reprinted in paperback.|author2=Press, Jon|url=https://archive.org/details/williammorrisdes0000harv}}</ref>  He also carried out Morris's redesign for the roof of the [Oxford Union](/source/Oxford_Union) in 1875<ref>{{cite book|title=William Morris : design and enterprise in Victorian Britain|last=Harvey|first=Charles|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1991|isbn=0719024196|edition=Reprinted in paperback.|location=Manchester|author2=Press, Jon|url=https://archive.org/details/williammorrisdes0000harv}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Goodwin|first=K. L.|title=Morris's 'New and lighter design'|journal=William Morris Society Journal|year=1968|volume=11|issue=3 (Winter)|url=http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/W68.2.3.Goodwin.pdf|access-date=2013-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091704/http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/W68.2.3.Goodwin.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>Hall, 2014, 158; Halliday, 2016, 9–11, 14–15.</ref>

In 1866 Leach was contracted by William Beaumont to paint the organ pipes and front during the restoration of [St Michael's](/source/Michaelhouse%2C_Cambridge), Cambridge, and, after Beaumont's death, by [George Gilbert Scott Junior](/source/George_Gilbert_Scott_Junior) for the reredos over a two-year period from 1872 to 1874 at a fee of £203-16-2.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Constituting angels and mortals in a wonderful order: George Gilbert Scott Junior's Sanctuary in St Michaels Church Cambridge|journal=Ecclesiology Today|year=2011|volume=46|url=https://www.academia.edu/859763}}</ref>  In 1874, Leach painted the roof, without payment, as a thanks offering to God.<ref>{{cite web|title=Michaelhouse, Cambridge:Historical information|url=http://www.gsm.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MHwebsiteHistory-leaflet-.pdf|access-date=2013-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918192823/http://www.gsm.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MHwebsiteHistory-leaflet-.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Frederick Leach's most significant original commission was probably the interior decoration of [St Clement's Church, Cambridge](/source/St_Clement's_Church%2C_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.<ref name=":0">Robinson and Wildman, 1980, 25; Halliday, 2016, 12–13.</ref>

Other Cambridgeshire commissions included the windows of St Peter's, [Barton](/source/Barton%2C_Cambridgeshire).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/therevsteve/2496042289/|title=Detail from window showing name of FR Leach and Son}}</ref> Leach painted the sundial of Queens' College Cambridge in 1864 and his firm was to repaint it in 1911.<ref>{{cite web|title=The sundial of Queens' College Cambridge|url=http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/queens/images/sundial.html}}</ref>

In 1880 he received a prestige commission to work on the interior of [St James's Palace](/source/St_James's_Palace) in London, although it is uncertain how much of his work might have survived.<ref>Halliday, op. cit. 20.</ref>

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](/source/Chesterton%2C_Cambridge), 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](/source/St_Andrew's_Church%2C_Chesterton).<ref>Halliday, op. cit., 5, 24, 26.</ref>

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.<ref>Halliday, op. cit., 27, 29.</ref>

==David Parr House==

{{Main|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=David Parr House |url=https://davidparrhouse.org/ |website=Davidparrhouse.org/ |access-date=10 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cambridge Home and Workplace of Unsung Artisan Decorator David Parr Listed |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in-your-area/east-of-england/home-and-workplace-of-david-parr-listed/ |website=Historicengland.org.uk/ |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1470294|desc=The David Parr House|grade=II*}}</ref> At the same time, the Leach's showroom at 3 St Mary's Passage was listed Grade II.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1469340|desc=3 St Mary's Passage|grade=II}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frederick Leach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Leach) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Leach?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.