Frederick Leathers, 1st Viscount Leathers

Frederick James Leathers, 1st Viscount Leathers, CH, PC (21 November 1883 – 19 March 1965), was a British industrialist and public servant.

Leathers was born at 47, Bromley Street, Stepney ("London's poor East End district"), son of carpenter Robert Leathers, of Stowmarket, Suffolk, and Emily Jane, née Seaman. His father died when he was four months old.^[1]^[2]^[3] He left school in 1898 at the age of 15 to work with Steamship Owners Coal Association (later merged with William Cory & Son), becoming managing director in 1916. He was concerned also with other companies dealing with coal or shipping services. He served in the management of the Pacific and Orient Lines, where he came to the attention of Winston Churchill, from 1931 a director of the firm.^[4]

He served as an adviser to the Ministry of Shipping from 1914 to 1918 and 1940 to 1941, and as Minister of War Transport in 1941 for the duration of World War II, on the appointment and strong recommendation of Churchill, who in so doing raised him to the peerage.^[4] In fact, Churchill said of him "At these meetings, (of a subsidiary company of the Peninsular and Oriental shipping lines where Churchill was a director in 1930), I gradually became aware of a very remarkable man. He presided over 30 or 40 companies...I soon perceived that Frederick Leathers was the central brain and controlling power of this combination. He knew everything and commanded absolute confidence. Year after year I watched him...I said to myself "If ever there is another war, here is a man who will play the same kind of part as the great business leaders who served under me at the Ministry of Munitions in 1917 and 1918". On 8 May 1941, I turned to him. To give him the necessary authority I created the office of Minister of War Transport". (The Grand Alliance, pub. Cassell, London, p132. 1966)

He attended the Casablanca, Washington, Quebec, and Cairo conferences in 1943. He negotiated the lend-lease of American ships to Britain. He also accompanied the prime minister, Winston Churchill to the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.^{[citation needed]}

He later served as Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power from 1951 to 1953. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Leathers, of Purfleet in the County of Essex, in 1941, and appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1943. He was further honoured when he was made Viscount Leathers, of Purfleet in the County of Essex, in 1954.

Arms

Coat of arms of Frederick Leathers, 1st Viscount Leathers
	Crest A lozenge Sable in front of two anchors in saltire Or. Escutcheon Azure a lymphad sails set Or flags flying to the dexter Gules on a chief of the second three lozenges Sable. Supporters Dexter a sea-lion sinister a sea horse Argent gorged with a collar of lozenges conjoined Sable. Motto Dum Spiro Servo (While I Breathe I Serve)^[5]

References

^ Keenlyside, Francis (2004). "Leathers, Frederick James, first Viscount Leathers (1883–1965), shipping expert and government minister". In Brodie, Marc (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34457. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 2273
^ Current Biography yearbook vol. 2, ed. Anna Herthe Rothe et al, H. W. Wilson Co., 1941, p. 503
^ ^a ^b Churchill, Winston S. (1948). The Grand Alliance. Rosetta Books. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-7953-0616-7.
^ Debrett's Peerage. 1985. p. 711.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Leathers
Newspaper clippings about Frederick Leathers, 1st Viscount Leathers in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Political offices
Preceded by John Moore-Brabazon as Minister of Transport	Minister of War Transport 1941–1945	Succeeded by Alfred Barnes as Minister of Transport
New title	Minister for Coordination of Transport, Fuel and Power 1951–1953	Office abolished
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Leathers 1954–1965	Succeeded by Frederick Leathers
New creation	Baron Leathers 1941–1965	Succeeded by Frederick Leathers

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[1] Keenlyside, Francis (2004). "Leathers, Frederick James, first Viscount Leathers (1883–1965), shipping expert and government minister". In Brodie, Marc (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34457. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[2] Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 2273

[3] Current Biography yearbook vol. 2, ed. Anna Herthe Rothe et al, H. W. Wilson Co., 1941, p. 503

[wc-4] Churchill, Winston S. (1948). The Grand Alliance. Rosetta Books. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-7953-0616-7.

[5] Debrett's Peerage. 1985. p. 711.

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v t e Energy Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Ministers of Fuel, Light and Power	Gwilym Lloyd George Manny Shinwell Hugh Gaitskell Philip Noel-Baker
Minister of Co-ordination of Transport, Fuel and Power	Frederik Leathers
Ministers of Fuel and Power	Geoffrey Lloyd Aubrey Jones
Ministers of Power	Percy Mills Richard Wood Frederick Erroll
Ministers of Technology	Frank Cousins Tony Benn
Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry	John Davies Peter Walker
Secretaries of State for Energy	Peter Lord Carrington Eric Varley Tony Benn David Howell Nigel Lawson Peter Walker Cecil Parkinson John Wakeham
Presidents of the Board of Trade and Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry	Michael Heseltine Ian Lang Margaret Beckett Peter Mandelson Stephen Byers Patricia Hewitt Alan Johnson Alistair Darling
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform	John Hutton
Secretaries of State for Energy and Climate Change	Ed Miliband Chris Huhne Ed Davey Amber Rudd
Secretaries of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy	Greg Clark Andrea Leadsom Alok Sharma Kwasi Kwarteng Jacob Rees-Mogg Grant Shapps Kemi Badenoch