Frederick Richard Leach (1837–1904) was an English master decorator, mural and stained glass painter based in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He worked with the architects

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

and

George Gilbert Scott Junior George Gilbert Scott Jr. (8 October 1839 – 6 May 1897) was an English architect working in late Gothic and Queen Anne revival styles. Known in later life as 'Middle Scott', he was the eldest son of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), a ...

, the designer

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

and the church craftsman

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

on many Victorian

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

churches, Cambridge college interiors and church restorations.

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 The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, his personal beliefs tended towards 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 Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

) commissions, thinking that this was for the glory of God, employing the maxim 'to work is to pray'. 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, on the west side of Market Hill in Cambridge. 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 at Tuebrook in Liverpool and with William Morris on the ceiling decorations of the chapel of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

. Subsequent collaborations with Bodley included the roof and organ loft of St Botolph's Church, Cambridge, the interior decoration of St Salvator's Church, Dundee and the decoration of the dining hall in

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

. He was responsible for much of the decorations of the walls and ceilings of

All Saints, Cambridge All Saints' is a church on Jesus Lane in central Cambridge, England, which was built by the architect George Frederick Bodley. The church was constructed in stages between 1863 and 1870 and is a notable example of English Gothic architecture, En ...

, one of Bodley's most significant works. He also carried out Morris's redesign for the roof of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

in 1875 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. In 1866 Leach was contracted by William Beaumont to paint the organ pipes and front during the restoration of St Michael's, Cambridge, and, after Beaumont's death, by

for the reredos over a two-year period from 1872 to 1874 at a fee of £203-16-2. In 1874, Leach painted the roof, without payment, as a thanks offering to God. Frederick Leach's most significant original commission was probably the interior decoration of

St Clement's Church, Cambridge St Clement's is a Church of England parish church in central Cambridge. The church is a Grade II* listed building. Location The church is located in Bridge Street, Cambridge, part of the central Cambridge conservation area. The churchyard provi ...

. 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.Robinson and Wildman, 1980, 25; Halliday, 2016, 12–13. Other Cambridgeshire commissions included the windows of St Peter's, Barton. Leach painted the sundial of Queens' College Cambridge in 1864 and his firm was to repaint it in 1911. In 1880 he received a prestige commission to work on the interior of

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

in London, although it is uncertain how much of his work might have survived. 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, 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 St Andrew's Church, Chesterton is a Church of England parish church in Chesterton, Cambridge. It is a Grade I listed building. A church was first recorded on this site around 1200. The church was presented in 1217 to the papal legate, Cardinal ...

. 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.

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. At the same time, the Leach's showroom at 3 St Mary's Passage was listed Grade II.

References

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