Vincent Leigh 1867-1928

Vincent Leigh was the owner of the Woodchester estate from 1907 until 1922. Little is known about him until after his father’s death in 1906. Then, when his sister Blanche was entrusted with the care of the estate due to Frank Leigh’s incapacity, Vincent was described in some family papers as not of robust health. Apparently he never displayed any aptitude for business matters and was not consulted by his father about the estate. Despite this lack of interest, he took over running the property and retained Ernest Poulton as agent. He spent over £4000 on the estate while the owner, effecting improvements to half a dozen of the farms and installing a bathroom and garage at The Cottage and improving the access road to it. The Cottage was let to tenants while Vincent lived in various places – Bath, his club in London and, for a time, in the few habitable rooms at the north-west corner of the Mansion. This gave him the distinction of being the only member of the Leigh family to actually live in the house. His furniture was stored there at the time of the sale in 1922. Despite his youthful lack of interest, he appears to have taken his responsibilities as owner of the estate seriously.

However, Vincent Leigh seems to have been inclined to be litigious. There are records of several disputes that came to court during his tenancy of the estate. There were squabbles over timber sales, with tenant farmers who sublet cottages, and a bitter dispute with the tenants of The Cottage who were asked to leave because they were not using the Catholic chapel in the house, in violation of the terms of their lease. Vincent’s sisters Blanche and Beatrice were, like their grandfather William Leigh, very zealous Catholics and the extent to which they were driving this issue is unknown. There appears to have been animosity between Vincent and his sisters, especially over the sale of the Woodchester estate in 1922.

5, Greyfriars, Chester, home of Vincent Leigh in the 1920s.

The property was ostensibly bought by John Henry Tooley, who was a stockbroker in Malvern. He had family connections in Stroud and had worked there as a solicitor’s clerk some twenty years earlier. However, he was acting as agent for Vincent’s sister Blanche. They appear to have made Vincent an offer for the estate, though to what extent Vincent had been seeking a buyer is not known. There is no evidence that the estate was put on the open market. As heir to the estate, Vincent benefitted from the revenue from the sale for his lifetime. Under his grandfather’s will, he also had the right to decide how the estate should be disposed of in the event of him having no male heir. A bachelor, Vincent married late in life, at the age of 56 in 1923. His new wife, formerly Miss Ethel Mary Eaton, was a Catholic who lived in Chester. Vincent lived there with her for the rest of his life, dying at 5, Greyfriars in January 1929. His obituary in the Chester Chronicle described him as ...of a retiring disposition and took no part in the public life of the city, but in private life he had many friends. His will included donations to many charities, amongst them £100 to both the Battersea Dogs Home and the National Trust.

Please note: all images on this page ©Woodchester Mansion Trust, not to be used without permission.