NOTABLE LEATHERLANDS / LITHERLANDS PART TWO 

Emeritus Professor John Leatherland of Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, is a graduate of Sheffield University. He is an expert in comparative endocrinology, who founded and edited the international journal Fish Physiology and Biochemistry and has written books on fish diseases.

Ernest Letherland 

An athlete from Nottingham who represented Britain in the marathon in the 1924 Olympics.  Son of a Nottinghamshire paper bag manufacturer, Ernie Leatherland worked for his father upon leaving school. He served in the Northumberland Fusiliers during WW1.  He later took up race walking and long distance running. He won the first of two consecutive Northern Marathons at Manchester in 1923 and 1924. This saw him  gain entry onto the British Olympic team as the race served as an Olympic qualifying event. Despite being one of the fancied Britons in Paris, Leatherland did not finish in the Olympic marathon.

Peter Litherland (1756–1805) was a British watchmaker and inventor. Born in Warrington, he later moved to Liverpool, which was then the centre of the English watchmaking trade. In 1791 he patented the rack lever escapement for watches, which was more accurate than the commonly used verge escapement. One of his watches is on display in Liverpool's World Museum. 

Bob Litherland (1930–2011) was a Labour MP for Manchester Central. Elected at a by-election in 1979, and held the office until he retired at the 1997 General Election. Litherland was born to a working-class family in Manchester. His father was an engineer and his mother a mill worker. He attended a grammar school but left school aged fifteen to train as a bookbinder, going on to be a sales representative for a printing company. He was active in the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades union and joined the Labour party aged sixteen.

Litherland was elected to Manchester City Council in 1971 and became chairman of the council's direct works committee, overseeing slum clearance. 

At a by-election in 1979 Litherland was elected as MP for Manchester Central by a majority of 5,992. He was a left-winger who sponsored Tony Benn in his failed leadership challenge in 1981. In 1982 he protested to ministers about poor conditions at Strangeways prison and in 1983 he demanded an inquiry into poor-quality tower blocks. He chose to retire from politics when he reached retirement age, stepping down as an MP in 1997. Litherland married his wife Edna in 1953. They had two children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.  He died  in 2011.

James Litherland (born 1949), was a British singer and guitarist best known as a founding member of progressive rock group Colosseum. He is the father of singer and producer James Blake. His albums with Colosseum include Those Who Are About to Die Salute You (1968), Valentyne Suite (1969) and The Grass Is Greener (1970). He made records with other artists including Mogul Thrash, John Baldry, Leo Sayer, and Bandit. He released solo records in 2006, and performed as a session musician with several bands in the 1970s.

Thomas Litherland and William Leatherland - glass and china dealers. 

Thomas Litherland was probably born around 1807 in Ravenstone, NW Leicestershire.  In 1828 Thomas Litherland of Ashby de la Zouch, a dealer in china, married Mary Bostock by licence. In 1841 he ran a china shop in Ashby. Six years later his wife died of phthisis ( tuberculosis). Two years later he married Elizabeth Coldwell Orton who came from Barnsley.

Thomas  continued to reside in Ashby de la Zouch, working as a china and glass dealer. He died of apoplexy (probably a stroke) in 1880 leaving a will with a probate valuation of £16,000. 

Thomas had a brother William Litherland, who had moved to Liverpool by 1841 where he worked as a china merchant. The 1851 census gave his occupation as glass and china merchant. His sister Elizabeth Litherland lived with him from 1851 until his death in 1883. Neither of them ever married.

In 1861 William and Elizabeth were living in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby. William’s nephew, John, was living with his uncle and working as a merchant’s clerk, probably in the family china dealing business. The 1871 census showed that William employed ten men and four women. He had two servants, a housemaid and a cook. William died in 1883 leaving an estate of £81,872 so he was extremely wealthy.

Thomas's eldest son William became a cabinet maker and settled in Burton upon Trent. His second son John Bostock Litherland worked in his uncle William’s glass and china dealer business. in Liverpool. John married the daughter of a cotton dealer and they had at least nine children. But John met a tragic end, dying at sea at the age of 50 – he was on board a ship near Colón Port at the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal when he succumbed to TB. 

The Derby Crown Porcelain Company was founded in 1876 by Edward Phillips, with the considerable backing of William Litherland of Liverpool. Phillips and William Litherland were joined by William's nephew, Henry Litherland, John Bostock Litherland, John McInnes (a Scottish chemist and enamel paint manufacturer) and William Bemrose, a successful Derby printer.

In 1891 Henry Litherland, who lived in Derby, became Managing Director of the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Works. He remained in that post until his death in 1925.