# Sheila Leather

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{{Infobox person
| name               = Sheila Leather
| birth_date         = 17 January 1898
| birth_place        = [Birkenhead](/source/Birkenhead)
| death_date         = 27 January 1983
| death_place        = [Caenby](/source/Caenby), [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire)
| occupation         = [engineer](/source/engineer), [teacher](/source/teacher), [trainer](/source/Facilitator)
}}
'''Sheila Leather''' (17 January 1898 - 27 January 1983) was an engineer, business owner and president of the [Women's Engineering Society](/source/Women's_Engineering_Society) in 1950–51.

== Early life ==
Sheila Leather was born in [Birkenhead](/source/Birkenhead), [Cheshire](/source/Cheshire) on 17 January 1898 to Annie (née Lyon) and [John Walter Leather](/source/John_Walter_Leather), an [analytical chemist](/source/Analytical_chemistry).<ref name=":2" /> She had two sisters, Alice Muriel born in 1889 and Wenonah Hardwick born in 1890. Her father was the head of the chemical department at the [Imperial Agricultural Research Institute](/source/Imperial_Agricultural_Research_Institute) established in 1904 at [Pusa](/source/Pusad) in [Bihar](/source/Bihar), India.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=M. |first=H. H. |date=1935 |title=Dr. J. Walter Leather |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=135 |issue=3402 |pages=58 |doi=10.1038/135058a0 |s2cid=35105058 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Leather was a boarder at Liverpool High School for Girls in 1911,<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=8: Sheila leather |url=http://www.magnificentwomen.co.uk/1/post/2019/01/8-sheila-leather.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Magnificent Women |language=en}}</ref> and it is assumed both her older sisters were in India with their father, as Alice Muriel married [Claud Mews Mackenzie Hutchinson](/source/Claud_Mackenzie_Hutchinson) in 1914.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Butler |first=E. J. |date=1941 |title=Mr. C. M. Hutchinson, C.I.E |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=148 |issue=3752 |pages=367 |doi=10.1038/148367a0 |s2cid=4143661 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}</ref> Her other sister Wenonah Hardwick married [Eric Cecil Ansorge](/source/Eric_Cecil_Ansorge) in 1915. Both weddings took place in Pusa.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915 |title="A wedding at Pusa". The Pioneer. 28 January 1915. p. 11.}}</ref>

== Career ==
Before the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II) Leather was a Physical Training Lecturer at [Hockerill Teacher Training College](/source/Hockerill_Training_College), [Bishop Stortford](/source/Bishop's_Stortford) [Hertfordshire](/source/Hertfordshire),<ref>{{Cite web |date=1939 |title=1939 England and Wales Register |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/create/email?rtype=1&fname=&lname=&dbid=61596&pid=15554734&flowId=dbid61596&returnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2Fdiscoveryui-content%2Fview%2F15554734%3A61596%3Fnreg%3D1 |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> having trained in the revolutionary Bergman-Osterberg method of exercise for women, probably at [Madame Bergman-Osterberg's](/source/Martina_Bergman-%C3%96sterberg) Dartford College.<ref name=":3" />

Leather was an amateur engineer in 1940 and was one of the first women trainees to attend the courses run by the [Women's Engineering Society](/source/Women's_Engineering_Society) held at the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Beaufoy Institute, a Lambeth landmark |url=https://www.beaufoy-institute.org/history-of-the-beaufoy/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=The Beaufoy Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> to prepare women for engineering war work.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Beaufoy Institute |url=https://www.heritageoflondon.org/projects/the-beaufoy-institute |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=HOLT |language=en}}</ref> She showed such aptitude at the [Hawker aircraft](/source/Hawker_Aircraft) factory where she was sent (working on [Typhoons](/source/Hawker_Typhoon) and [Hawker Tempest](/source/Hawker_Tempest)s) that she was promoted from the shopfloor to more responsible posts in production planning.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 6 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_6.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref> In March 1943 she was recruited by the UK government's Ministry of Labour to be one of its Women Technical Officers advising on the employment of women in heavy industry, and was posted for some time to Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 5 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_5.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref> She went on to train others in people management and supervision skills, being appointed a TWI (Training Within Industry) Trainer in 1944.<ref name=":3" />

Along with another WES member, [Verena Holmes](/source/Verena_Holmes), Leather set up a small engineering company, Holmes & Leather Ltd,<ref>{{Cite web |title=53: Verena holmes |url=http://www.magnificentwomen.co.uk/1/post/2019/06/53-verena-holmes.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Magnificent Women |language=en}}</ref> in [Gillingham](/source/Gillingham%2C_Kent), [Kent](/source/Kent) in 1946 employing only women to make small paper-cutting guillotines that could be used safely in schools.<ref name=":6" /> Both of her sisters had invested in the company.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grace's Guide Website |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Holmes_and_Leather}}</ref>

== Women's Engineering Society ==
She joined the [Women's Engineering Society](/source/Women's_Engineering_Society) (WES) in 1941 and became a regular contributor to The Woman Engineer magazine, and taking part in a broadcast to America about her work in 1942. She was elected to the WES Council in September 1942<ref name=":4" /> and Vice President alongside [Elsie Eleanor Verity](/source/Elsie_Eleanor_Verity) in 1947.<ref name=":3" />

In 1950-51 Leather was elected president of the Women's Engineering Society<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Women's Engineering Society Presidents Past and Present |url=https://www.wes.org.uk/content/history/presidents-past-present}}</ref> succeeding [Frances Heywood](/source/Frances_Heywood) in the role.<ref name=":3" /> She campaigned for equal pay in the sector and visited schools to encourage girls to take up engineering as a profession. In 1950, she, [Winifred Hackett](/source/Winifred_Hackett) and [Ira Rischowski](/source/Ira_Rischowski) published a report on equal pay for women in engineering, which concluded that there was "''no justification for lower salary scales for women''".<ref name=":3" />

In 1951 she spoke on training in industry at the conference of the Women's Engineering Society, on BBC [Woman's Hour](/source/Woman's_Hour) and joined the equal pay committee of the British Federation of Business and Professional Women, thenbeing elected Vice Chair of the organisation. Leather hosted [Beatrice Hicks](/source/Beatrice_Hicks), President of the recently formed American [Society of Women Engineers](/source/Society_of_Women_Engineers) when she visited the [Festival of Britain](/source/Festival_of_Britain).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 7 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_7.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref> Leather was succeeded as WES President by [Ella Mary Collin](/source/Ella_Mary_Collin).<ref name=":0" />

== Later life ==
In retirement she enjoyed acting as a volunteer guide in [Lincoln Cathedral](/source/Lincoln_Cathedral).<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=The Woman Engineer Vol 13 |url=https://twej.theiet.org/twej/WES_Vol_13.html |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=twej.theiet.org}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Sheila Leather died aged 85, at the [Caenby](/source/Caenby) Nursing Home in [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire) on 27 January 1983.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 |url=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7579&h=46807951&tid=&pid=&queryId=93a5c9d522a13cf3c55cf43da5205322&usePUB=true&_phsrc=lWB963&_phstart=successSource&_gl=1*8g5uyr*_ga*MjA4NjA5NTU1MS4xNTk3ODM4ODkx*_ga_4PXYE4RLH1*MTY0Njg0MDMyOC4zNC4xLjE2NDY4NDAzNjguMA..}}</ref>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leather, Sheila}}
Category:1898 births
Category:1983 deaths
Category:20th-century women engineers
Category:Women's Engineering Society
Category:People from Birkenhead
Category:20th-century British businesswomen

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