Francis Ley
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Francis Ley, 1st Baronet (3 January 1846 – 27 January 1916) was an English industrialist. He founded Ley's Malleable Castings Vulcan Ironworks in
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
. He (re-)introduced
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
into the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
town of
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
with the Ley's Recreation Club (later known as Derby Baseball Club) and owned Ley's Recreation Centre from 1890 to 1924, which was home to
Derby County Football Club Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...
. In 1905, Ley was created a
Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, of Epperstone Manor and, in the same year, served as
High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuri ...
.


Biography

Francis Ley was born on 3 January 1846 in
Winshill Winshill is an area to the east of the town of Burton upon Trent, in the borough of East Staffordshire, England. Flanked to the north and east by the South Derbyshire border, historically the parish of Winshill had always been part of Derbyshir ...
which at the time was in south-west
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
(it's now in
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
). He was the only son of George Phillips LeyThe Register Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1916
Hesperides, p.155, accessed May 2010
and Sarah (born Potts).Tony Mason, ‘Ley, Sir Francis, first baronet (1846–1916)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 4 May 2010
/ref> He started work at Andrew Handyside & Co. as a draughtsman and learnt about engineering. At the age of 28 he established a
malleable iron Malleable iron is cast as white iron, the structure being a metastable carbide in a pearlitic matrix. Through an annealing heat treatment, the brittle structure as first cast is transformed into the malleable form. Carbon agglomerates into small ...
castings foundry on Osmaston Road,
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
in 1874.Leys Malleable Castings
Graces Guide, accessed May 2010
The business became the Ley's Malleable Castings Company Ltd. The Vulcan Iron Works at Osmaston Road occupied an 11-acre site by the
Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. It now forms part of ...
. In the ''London Gazette'' of 14 April 1876 Ley was granted a patent for "improvements in apparatus for locking and fastening nuts on fish plate and other bolts". In 1878 he was sued for patent infringement by an American drive chain belt company; the case was settled and Ley's company was awarded sole manufacturing rights. By the 1880s Ley was demolishing his old works and rebuilding on a grander scale. The new factory was to include expensive sporting facilities. Ley was never sporting himself but he was an enthusiast for sport and sat on the board of
Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...
. The Vulcan iron foundry was closed and demolished in 1986.


Sport

Ley visited the United States of America in 1889, and was impressed by the game of baseball. Some people had been intrigued by
Albert Spalding Albert Goodwill Spalding (September 2, 1849 – September 9, 1915) was an American pitcher, manager, and executive in the early years of professional baseball, and the co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company. He was born and raised ...
's world tour with his baseball team when it played in England in 1889. Ley decided that, as a way of ensuring a healthier and more productive workforce, an investment should be made in promoting recreation for his workers. During his journey to the States, Ley had seen the way in which baseball fields had been laid out by companies and factories for the use by their workers and decided to follow suit on his return to Derby. Consequently, Ley had what was to be called "Ley's Recreation Center" built; a park for the use of workers with cricket and baseball facilities. The National Baseball League of Great Britain and Ireland was started in 1890 and a letter was sent to Spalding in America requesting help in establishing a league. The British requested eight to ten players to coach and convert the existing players whose primary game was usually soccer. Spalding, who also sold sporting goods, was enthusiastic and sent a skilled manager, Jim Hart and players: William J. Barr, Charles Bartlett, J.E.Prior and
Leech Maskrey Samuel Leech Maskrey (February 11, 1854 – April 1, 1922) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played five seasons in the majors, from 1882 to 1886, for the Louisville Eclipse/Colonels and Cincinnati Red Stockings. His brother ...
. The intention had been to have eight teams but initially there were just four
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, Preston North End,
Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...
and Derby Baseball Club. The first three used Hart to decide the line-up of their teams, but Ley, who had more experience of baseball, made his own decisions.Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines
Jerry Kuntz, p.47, accessed May 2010
The club ran away with the first professional
championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
; however, pressure from other teams in the league over the number of American professionals (three) on the team led to Derby withdrawing when they would have been the first British champions.Baseball without borders: the international pastime
George Gmelch, p.268, accessed May 2010
Derby did win the amateur British title three times in the 1890s.
Derby County Football Club Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...
become tenants of Ley's grounds in 1895. Ley's Derby Baseball Club continued on, dominating baseball until 1900, at which point (at Ley's behest) local football clubs formed baseball clubs to join the league, including a Derby County Baseball Club. The Baseball Ground continued to be used under that name as the home of Derby County F.C. until 1997. Ley's grounds were used for a variety of sports. A picture below shows Ley's 1912 Cricket team. Remarkably it contains three players who were capped for England at football. These were S. Bloomer on the right of the back row; H. Barnes on the left but one of the middle row and J. Bagshaw who is first on the front row.


Family

Ley first married Georgina Townsend and they had a son and two daughters. His first son, Henry Gordon Ley (1874-1944) is pictured left with his father. His daughter Ethel Ley (1873–1953) married in
Epperstone Epperstone is an English village and civil parish in mid-Nottinghamshire, located near Lowdham and Calverton. It had a population (including Gonalston) of 589 at the time of the 2011 Census. Many inhabitants commute to work or school in Notting ...
on 16 December 1902 Henry John Boyd-Carpenter (1865–1923), a son of
William Boyd Carpenter William Boyd Carpenter (26 March 1841, Liverpool – 26 October 1918, Westminster) was a Church of England cleric who became Bishop of Ripon and Royal Chaplain to Queen Victoria. Background William Boyd Carpenter was the second son of the Revd ...
, Bishop of Ripon, and himself a colonial official in Egypt, where he was Chief Inspector to the Ministry of Public Instruction, then Inspector General of Schools. Following his first wife's death he married Alison Catherine Jobson in 1888. They had two sons who both joined the Armed Forces. Christopher Francis Aden Ley was the elder, born in 1893. He joined the South Nottinghamshire Hussars and became a captain in the Royal Flying Corps. He died in March 1918 having survived the 1915 Gallipoli campaign and outlived his younger brother. Maurice Aden Ley was two years younger and a Lieutenant; he died in November 1914.


Honours and legacy

Ley bought Epperstone Manor in
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
and he was created a
Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, of Epperstone Manor, on 27 December 1905.Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, Earlier the same year he was appointed
High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuri ...
. When Ley died he owned the company and Derby County F.C.'s sports ground. He also owned 6,500 aces of farmland and was the
Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
at Epperstone,
Lazonby Lazonby is a village and civil parish in the Lower Eden Valley of Cumbria; it is located about north north-east of Penrith and 24 miles (38 km) south of the Scottish Borders. The total population of the ward of Lazonby, which also includ ...
,
Staffield Staffield is a hamlet and former civil parish from Carlisle, now in the parish of Kirkoswald, in the Eden district, in the county of Cumbria, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 193. History The name "Staffield" means 'Isolated ...
,
Glassonby Glassonby is a small village and civil parish in the Eden Valley of Cumbria, England, about south south east of Kirkoswald. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 314, decreasing marginally to 308 at the 2011 Census. There is a m ...
around Kirkoswald in Cumbria. There is an industrial estate named after him in Derby and his Manor and grounds have been converted to residential dwellings.


Notes


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ley, Francis 1846 births 1916 deaths Ley, Sir Francis, 1st Baronet High Sheriffs of Nottinghamshire People from Derby People from Epperstone People from Derbyshire (before 1895) 19th-century English businesspeople Baseball in the United Kingdom