Ted Leather

{{Short description|Canadian-born British Conservative politician}} {{Use British English|date=November 2010}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sir Ted Leather | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|KCVO}} | image = Sir-Edwin-Hartley-Cameron-Leather.jpg | alt = | office = Governor of Bermuda | term_start = 1973 | term_end = 1977 | monarch = Elizabeth II | preceded = Sir Richard Sharples  | succeeded = Sir Peter Ramsbotham | office2 = Member of Parliament<br>for North Somerset | term_start2 = 23 February 1950 | term_end2 = 25 September 1964 | preceded2 = New constituency | succeeded2 = Paul Dean | birth_name = Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1919|5|22}} | birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2005|4|5|1919|5|22}} | citizenship = {{ubl|Canada|United Kingdom (from 1962)}} | party = Conservative | spouse = {{marriage|Sheila Greenlees|1940|1994|end=d}} | children = 2 | alma_mater = Royal Military College of Canada | awards = {{ubli|Knight Bachelor|Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George|Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order|Venerable Order of Saint John}}  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagu|Canada|1921}} | branch = Toronto Scottish and Royal Canadian Artillery | service_years = | rank = Captain | unit = 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion | commands = | battles = Second World War | mawards =  }}

'''Sir Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|KCVO}} (22 May 1919 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born British Conservative politician. He served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the British colony of Bermuda from 1973 to 1977.

Leather served during World War II as an officer, first with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and later with the Toronto Scottish and Royal Canadian Artillery. After the war, he worked as an insurance broker in England. In 1950, he was elected to the UK Parliament as the member for North Somerset. He was a backbencher throughout the period of Conservative governments from 1951–1964. He became a UK citizen and was knighted in 1962. Poor health caused him to retire as an MP in 1964. Following the murder of Sir Richard Sharples, Leather was appointed Governor of Bermuda in 1973.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite journal |date=11 August 2005 |year= |title=Edwin Leather Obituary |url=http://www.freemenlondon.org/newsletters/2005-03-CompanyComment.pdf |journal=Company Comment |volume=2005 |issue=1 |pages=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223224725/http://www.freemenlondon.org/newsletters/2005-03-CompanyComment.pdf |archive-date=23 December 2014 |via=Honourable Company of Freemen of the City of London of North America}}</ref><ref name="New Bermuda H.E">{{Cite news |date=30 May 1973 |title=New Bermuda H.E. |url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00084249/03360/zoom/0 |work=The Tribune |location=Nassau, Bahamas |pages=1 |via=University of Florida Digital Collections}}</ref> He served in the post until 1977 when he retired but remained on the island.

==Education==

Leather was born in Hamilton, Ontario on 22 May 1919,<ref name="auto" /> the son of Harold and Grace Leather. Leather's father was the founder of a trucking business. {{Clarify span|Leather was educated at Hillfield Strathallan College, Trinity College School, Port Hope.|date=December 2019}} He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada<ref name="auto" /> in Kingston, Ontario, in 1937.

He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath in 1976.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honorary graduates, 1970 to 1979 |url=https://www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/honorary-graduates-1970-to-1979/#1976-777b |access-date=2021-03-02 |website=University of Bath}}</ref>

==Career==

=== Military service === During the Second World War, Captain Leather served with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, Canadian Army in England and Europe.<ref name="auto" /> He was badly injured in a practice jump when his parachute failed to open.<ref name="auto" /> He rejoined his Battalion for D-Day.<ref name="auto" /> He served in Europe during World War II with the Toronto Scottish and Royal Canadian Artillery.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |date=11 August 2005 |year= |title=Edwin Leather Obituary |url=http://www.freemenlondon.org/newsletters/2005-03-CompanyComment.pdf |journal=Company Comment |volume=2005 |issue=1 |pages=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223224725/http://www.freemenlondon.org/newsletters/2005-03-CompanyComment.pdf |archive-date=23 December 2014 |via=Honourable Company of Freemen of the City of London of North America}}</ref> He wrote a manual for the Home Guard called "Combat without Weapons".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Preston |first=Richard Arthur |url=http://archive.org/details/canadasrmchistor0000pres |title=Canada's RMC: A history of the Royal Military College |date=1969 |publisher=Royal Military College Club of Canada |others=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-3222-5 |location=Toronto |pages=303 |quote=Captain E. H. C. Leather, CIC, an ex-cadet who had served in the RCA, and who later became a British MP and received a knighthood, wrote a manual for the Home Guard called Combat without Weapons. |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He worked as an insurance broker in England<ref name="auto" /> and was secretary of the Central London branch of the Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians.

=== Member of UK Parliament === At the 1945 general election, Leather stood without success in the Bristol South constituency,{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} but at the 1950 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset.<ref name="auto" /> He was a backbencher throughout the period of Conservative governments from 1951–1964. He supported the unions, and held office in the Association of Supervisory Staffs, Executives and Technicians and supported the miners.<ref name="auto"/> Leather never held political office but was a popular speaker at party conferences and other events, as well as on radio and television. He was a One Nation Tory; he forcefully opposed racism and supported the European Union.

Leather was proposed for a knighthood but, still a Canadian citizen, required the support of the Canadian government which had not made any honour recommendation for some years;{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} Prime Minister John Diefenbaker declined to support the recommendation.<ref name="auto" />

Leather was eventually knighted in 1962 when he was made a Knight Bachelor, having taken British citizenship.<ref name="auto" /> He quit Westminster in 1964.<ref name="auto" /> Poor health and the low pay for MPs forced Leather to retire from Parliament at the 1964 general election and enter business. He returned to the political scene a few years later, as vice-chairman of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, taking a leading role in fundraising and at party conference.

=== Governor of Bermuda === In 1973, following the murder of Sir Richard Sharples, Leather was appointed Governor of Bermuda.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="New Bermuda H.E"/> Despite the assassination of his predecessor and an aide, he lived informally and mixed with locals. He continued to live in Bermuda after his retirement in 1977.<ref name="auto" /> He came to the attention of the Commissioner of the Bermuda Police Force after riding his bicycle recklessly.<ref name="auto" /> He became the local representative of N M Rothschild & Sons and wrote several thrillers. As Governor, his nickname was "Imperial Leather",<ref name="auto" /> a pun on his surname, position and the famous brand of soap.

He was appointed {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}} in 1974 and in 1975 became the first Canadian to be appointed KCVO since the future 1st Lord Shaughnessy in 1907. Leather was an active freemason<ref name="auto" /><ref> {{cite news |date=31 October 1995 |title=Conservatives at the heart of Freemasonry |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/conservatives-at-the-heart-of-freemasonry-1580256.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/conservatives-at-the-heart-of-freemasonry-1580256.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |work=The Independent |location=London |page=}}</ref> and an Anglican lay reader.

During his time as Governor of Bermuda, Sir Edwin made a significant effort to include a number of influential Bermudians as part of the vice-regal household. Among them were Rev. Thomas Nisbett, Bermuda's first Black Church of England priest (later Canon Thomas Nisbett), and Major Clinton Eugene Raynor, promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and appointed Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment, the local-service regiment of the British Army organised on territorial lines, from 1980 to 1984 (Lt-Col Clinton Eugene Raynor, OBE, ED, JP, was later Honorary Colonel of the Royal Bermuda Regiment).<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnston |first=Paul |date=2019-08-16 |title=RBR Honorary Colonel to Step Down After 20 Years |url=https://www.bermudaregiment.bm/news/item/399-rbr-honorary-colonel-to-step-down-after-20-years |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930151400/https://www.bermudaregiment.bm/news/item/399-rbr-honorary-colonel-to-step-down-after-20-years |archive-date=30 Sep 2020 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Royal Bermuda Regiment |location=Warwick Camp, Bermuda}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Johnston |url=https://www.royalgazette.com/other/news/article/20190816/raynor-retires-as-regiment-honorary-colonel |title=Raynor retires as regiment honorary colonel |date=2019-08-16 |website=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |access-date=2022-07-23}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Leather married Sheila Greenlees in 1940; they had two daughters. Leather's home was Park House, Batheaston.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=Edwin Leather fonds |url=http://library.mcmaster.ca/archives/findaids/findaids/l/leathere.03.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030509200853/http://library.mcmaster.ca/archives/findaids/findaids/l/leathere.03.htm |archive-date=9 May 2003 |website=McMaster University Library |series=William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections}}</ref> His wife predeceased him in 1994.<ref name="auto" />

Leather was an accomplished gymnast and founded the International Sports Fellowship.

During the First World War, Leather's father, Harold, served in East Africa with the Army Service Corps, finishing the war as a lieutenant. Upon his return to Canada he established Leather Cartage in Hamilton Ontario. During the Second World War, Harold Leather was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (1943) for his work in coordinating the Red Cross parcel scheme in Canada. He would go on to become Chairman of the Canadian Red Cross Society.

==Publications==

*Sir Edwin Leather monograph, 'Memorandum on a Choice of Countries', 1943. *Sir Edwin Leather 'Human Nature and the Profit Motive', ts. draft for book begun 12 April 1943. The novel features the character, Rupert Conway, of Leather's previous three novels. *Sir Edwin Leather 'Combat without Weapons', handbook, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1942 <ref name="auto1"/> *''The Vienna Elephant'' (Dodd, Mead 1977, Macmillan 1978, Pinnacle p/b 1981) *''The Mozart Score'' (Doubleday 1979, Macmillan 1979) *''The Duveen Letter'' (Doubleday 1980, Macmillan 1980)

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for North Somerset | years = 1950–1964 | before = ''(new constituency)'' | after = Paul Dean }} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Governor of Bermuda|before=Sir Richard Sharples|after=Sir Peter Ramsbotham|years=1973–1977}} {{s-end}}

==References==

== Bibliography == * Preston, Adrian & Dennis, Peter (eds.) (1976) ''Swords and Covenants''. Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield (#4237) * Preston, Richard Arthur (1969) ''To Serve Canada: a History of the Royal Military College of Canada''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (#H16511) ** Preston, Richard Arthur (1982) ''Canada's RMC: a History of Royal Military College''; 2nd ed. (#H16511) * Preston, Richard Arthur (1968) ''R.M.C. and Kingston: the effect of imperial and military influences on a Canadian community''. Kingston, Ontario (#H16511) * Smith, R. Guy C. (ed.) (1984) ''As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember''. 2 vols. Volume I: 1876–1918. Volume II: 1919–1984. Kingston, Ont.: RMC; The R.M.C. Club of Canada (#H1877)

==External links== *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-edwin-leather-530360.html Sir Edwin Leather – Obituaries, News – The Independent]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leather, Edwin}} Category:1919 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Politicians from Toronto Category:Royal Military College of Canada alumni Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Canadian Anglicans Category:Canadian Knights Bachelor Category:Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Canadian Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Category:UK MPs 1950–1951 Category:UK MPs 1951–1955 Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:Governors of Bermuda Category:Canadian Army personnel of World War II Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Military personnel from Toronto Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Category:Rothschild & Co people Category:Anglican lay readers Category:Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery officers Category:1st Canadian Parachute Battalion