A bequest for St Werburgh's from the last male owner of Woodchester Mansion

Many in Chester and the North of England may never have heard of the Leigh family or Woodchester in Gloucestershire, but one of the last owners of the estate was a significant benefactor to both St Francis Church and St Werburgh’s in the years just prior to its acceptance as a Diocesan Church.

William Leigh was a landowner from Staffordshire with lucrative property interests in Australia inherited from his father, a Cheshire-born Liverpool merchant. His father was very successful and upon his death in 1815 left about £10,000 in Liverpool, Roby Hall estate at Huyton and about £100,000 in London banks. William was just 13 when he inherited his father’s wealth. He attended Eton and then travelled with his mother around Europe. In 1828 he married Caroline Cotterell. The marriage to Catherine provided the wealthy William Leigh with connections to the landed gentry. Following his marriage, William moved with his new wife from Liverpool to Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire where they settled in 1829.

William, with a growing family, attended the local Anglican Church. The debates within the Anglican Church at this time led him to become interested in the views of the Oxford Movement, to the extent that in 1844 he converted to Catholicism. This resulted in an estrangement from the local landed gentry in Staffordshire. Within his new faith, one of the people who greatly influenced William Leigh was a charismatic Italian, Fr Dominic Barberi, the Superior of the Passionists. In 1845 William left Staffordshire and bought the Woodchester estate from Lord Ducie. As a thank-offering for his conversion, he had promised his friend Father Dominic that he would build him a church and a monastery to further his missionary efforts. The foundation stone for the Church was laid by Bishop Ullathorne, Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, on 26 November 1846, only 17 years after the passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act. The Church of the Annunciation at Woodchester was consecrated by Bishop Hendren, Vicar Apostolic, on 10 October 1849. It cost William Leigh some £9,000. William’s plans were sadly interrupted by the death of his friend Father Dominic, but Leigh managed to persuade the Dominicans to replace them, and in 1851 the foundation stone for a new Dominican monastery and novice house was laid. This was completed by August 1853. Leigh expended a further £10,000 on the monastery which became a vital centre for the Dominican Order. The establishment was canonically raised to priory status in 1854 and became the novitiate for the English Province of the Order.

Leigh then turned his attention to his next project, to build a new house, Woodchester Mansion, on the estate. Construction started in 1855. Declining health and declining finances resulted in the work on its construction slowing and the building was unfinished at the time of his death in 1873. He is said to have spent about £20,000 on building the house

William Leigh's son, also William, born in 1829 at Shenstone in Staffordshire, had married in 1859 and had six children. Sadly his wife died following childbirth of their last child in 1871. William undertook excessive borrowing, doubling his father's debts in an attempt to complete the Mansion, but he seemed unable to comprehend the seriousness of the situation and continued to overspend. Of the principal rooms, only the drawing room was completed. This was finished for a visit from Cardinal Vaughan in 1894. He was by this time over 60 years of age. During this period, the situation was exacerbated by the fact that William’s three sons were not involved with the property; one was living in Australia. The fortunes of the Woodchester estate and the Mansion were revived by the influence of William’s eldest daughter, Blanche Leigh. In the early 1900s she acted for her father in business matters, and instigated significant improvements, undertaking repairs and increasing the estate’s revenue. When the younger William Leigh died in October 1906 Blanche was proposing finishing the Mansion, and recovering the cost by letting it out. The eldest brother, Francis William Leigh, inherited the estate on his father’s death, but died very soon after on 12 January 1907.

Henry Vincent, born in Cannes during March 1867, was the only surviving son of the younger William Leigh. He succeeded his brother as Lord of the Manor of Nympsfield, King's Stanley, Woodchester and Frocester, and lay rector of Frocester. Unfortunately, he did not have robust health and lacked his sister’s business acumen. He spent a further £4,000 on the estate and holds the distinction of being the only member of the family to have ever lived in the limited area of the mansion that was habitable. Owing to World War I and declines in value of land and income, the position became untenable and the estate was offered for sale in 1921. After completion, it transpired that the actual purchaser was Blanche Leigh, who had gone behind her brother's back, not wishing the property to be lost to the family. Blanche and her sister Beatrice were capable business women, who subsequently managed the local Catholic Primary School. By 1936 it was agreed to put the whole estate on the market. The conditions of sale included a dedicated Catholic House, thus ensuring a strong Catholic element for the future. However, war intervened. From 1942 the property was used for military training and then resold. It was granted Grade I listed status in 1987, thus ensuring that basic maintenance was carried out. The property is carefully managed, with a conservation group and SSSI status. Long abandoned, it is now in the care of the Woodchester Mansion Trust.

The Dominican priory buildings closed in 1966 and, grievously, were mostly demolished in 1970 [2].

Vincent Leigh was married at St Werburgh’s Church, by Canon Chambers, to Ethyl Mary Eaton on 1 August 1923. He led a quiet life in Chester, first living at Ty Gwyn, Hough Green, and later at 5 Grey Friars.

Ethyl Mary Eaton was the daughter of James Roberts Eaton of 8 Pepper Street. He ran a Registry for Servants and General Agents until his death in 1890. His wife continued the business (census 1891) when Ethel was still at school. Her mother died in 1897. The 1921 census shows that Ethel and her older sister Sarah were still running the Registrar for Servants Business. Newspaper reports show Ethel to have been a humorous songstress with the Chester Follies in 1905 [3] and also a member of the Chester Cathedral nave choir.

Quite how Vincent met Ethyl is not known, but Canon Chambers was a great friend of Vincent. They had first met at St Mary’s College Oscott, the Catholic Seminary in Birmingham for men training for the priesthood. Vincent had been at school at The Bormingham Oratory before transferring to Oscott.

Vincent died in January 1929 and was buried in Overleigh Old Cemetery. The funeral took place in St Werburgh’s Church and Fr Bede-Jarrett, Provincial of the Dominican Order in England, was the celebrant at the Requiem Mass. Others who officiated were Fr Hayes, Fr Pozzi, Fr Campbell, Fr Worsley, Fr Kinsello and two members of the Franciscan Order, thereby providing a fitting tribute to a family who had given so much to the development of the Dominican Order and the Catholic Church in England [4]. In his will Vincent left £500 to St Werburgh’s Church and £250 to St Francis Church [5].

[1] https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/woodchester-the-annunciation/
[2] https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/woodchester-the-annunciation/
[3] Cheshire Observer 18 Feb 1905 Page 5 Col 4
[4] Cheshire Observer 26 Jan 1929 Page 6 Col 7
[5] Private Communication

John W. Curtis 2025