Mr & Mrs J B Leaver

Research by Marjorie Gregson

This painting, Dog and Mallard (Acc No 58) was donated by
John Barker Leaver and his wife, Dorothy, in 1942 in memory
of Mr and Mrs A Leaver.

John was born in 1890 in Nelson, Lancashire to Abraham Leaver (1858-1942) and his wife, Alice, nee Briggs (1858-1942), whom he married in 1879. John was the youngest of their four children. His sisters were Lilian, Edith and Amy.

In 1901 the family was living in Nelson and Abraham was described as 'a cotton cloth looker'. On the 1911 census John was living with his cousin in Wood Green, Middlesex, and was a solicitor’s articled clerk. (1) He was later articled to Alfred Varley of Colne.

During the First World War he was a 2nd Lieutenant, then Captain in the Royal Army Service Corps and served in India and East Persia. (2)

By 1924 John was a solicitor with the firm of Leaver and Bracewell in Lytham and living at 'Leawood', 12 Norfolk Road, Lytham with his parents. (3) The following year he married Dorothy Almond at Lytham Reformed Church. Their sons, John D A Leaver and William A J Leaver, were born in 1926 and 1930 respectively. (4)

Abraham and Alice remained at Leawood whilst John and Dorothy lived at ''Beach House', West Beach, Lytham. John’s solicitors’ chambers were at Bank Chambers, Clifton Street, Lytham. He wrote three books entitled: The Building Societies Acts Annotated (1932), Building Societies and the Legal Profession (1933) and Building Societies: Past, Present and Future (1942). (5)

Abraham died on 12 January 1942 and his funeral took place at Lytham Parish Church. His obituary, which appeared in The Burnley Express on 17 January 1942, stated that 'he had been a “cotton master” at Colne Technical School for more than 20 years and had taught the young men’s class at Manchester Road Congregational Church, Nelson for more than 10 years. On moving to Lytham he had a long association with Lytham Congregational Church'.

His wife died the same year on the 24 June. The painting was donated in their memory.

REFERENCES

( 1 ) www.findmypast.co.uk
( 2 ) www.mocavo.co.uk
( 3 ) www.amounderness.co.uk
( 4 ) www.freebmd.co.uk
( 5 ) www.amazon.co.uk/books-used-book-textbooks