a family album | jim and rebecca leach

Mabel Leach (Rebecca)


Jim Leach	Jim Leach

Thomas Leach and his sister, Irene Leach, were born in Wigan to James Leach (Jim) and Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca). Jim and Rebecca married in August 1909. Irene was born 24th February 1910. At the time of the 1911 census, Jim was working as a hotel waiter and their first child, Irene, was six months old. They lived at 15 Vauxhall Road in Wigan. Jim's family lived at 13 Vauxhall Road - his parents, his youngest sister, Alice Ann (age 15), and older sister, Deborah (27), who was married to Roger Aspinall (26). They were rented terrace houses in a mining town in Lancashire.

The Leach Family: Rebecca, Irene, Tom, and James Leach
Photo taken about 1914?

Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca)
b. 1887
Wigan, Lancashire
d. 1943

James Leach (Jim)
b. 4 Mar 1888
Wigan, Lancashire
d. 1926

married
1909

TWO CHILDREN

Irene Leach b.1910, Mabel (Rebecca) Leach, Tom Leach b. 1912
Photo taken about 1916?

Tom Leach was born 11th August 1912. Irene told us that she and Tom were given a bath together on a Saturday night in a tin with a handle at each end which was placed near the open coal fire of the kitchen range. Later when they had the hotel (pub), they were still bathed together, but in a big bath.

James fought in World War I (1914-1918). While he was away, James (Jimmy) wrote letters and cards home in rhyme. His sister, Alice Ann (San), later wrote out his letters for future generations to enjoy.

James Leach was one of ten children born to Mary Henthorn Fitton and Thomas Leach (Tom) who were both born in Lancashire.Thomas Leach's family was from Ireland. Mary and Tom's ten children were Mary Elizabeth Leach, Margaret Ann Leach (Maggie), Richard Radcliffe Leach (Dick), Tom Leach, Deborah Leach, John William Fitton Leach (Jack), James Leach (Jim), Ellis Leach, Alice Ann Leach (San) and one unknown child who died. Three of the ten children died leaving seven surviving children.Their son, Thomas Leach, was born 31st March 1878 and unfortunately died in 1879. He died from cross-vaccination. He had been a healthy baby. Their son, Ellis Leach, was born March 1891 and died in June of that year.

Mary Henthorn Fitton's parents were Ann Henthorn and Radcliffe Fitton. Mary's siblings were: John William Fitton (b 1845), Elizabeth Fitton (b 1848), Abraham Henthorn Fitton (b 1856), Alice Ann Fitton (b 1860), Deborah Fitton (b 1863).

To his sister, Alice Ann, Jim wrote:

May 1919

Dear Sis San,
I have no news dear Sister to send to you,
Only fondest greetings, that are sincere and true,
And may you like this card of mine,
And happiness for ever on you shine.
Yes it only seems just yesterday,
That you and me did part our way,
But tho' the time has passed away,
It as brought our hearts together on this auspicious day.
I could not send you a present dear lass,
But I send to you my fondest wish,
God bless and strengthen you for ever,
And Aye, Your Affectionate brother, Jimmy.

From a Christmas card from James Leach to his sister, Alice Ann: 1919

Dear Sis: San,
This card I send my wishes most sincere,
Prospects bright, and happy delight,
For Christmas and New Year.
Just think of me on New Year's eve,
As the clock it does strike twelve,
For at that time, in service divine,
I hope you will attend.
Just look after dear Mother, be as good as you can be
And you will earn, the everlasting gratitude of one
across the sea.
God bless You For Aye. Jim X

Writing to his mother, Mary Leach, Jim wrote
when he was about twenty-eight:

April 11. 1916.

Mother
How sweet the name of Mother sounds,
To the son so far away.
Whose dearest wish for happiness,
Always may come your way.
I love to fondle your photo,
And dream of the happy day,
When I return safe home to you,
And forever with you stay.
What joy it is to own,
A mother so kind and true,
God's blessings on you shower,
Is my sincerest wish for you.
Tho' dark was the hour when we parted,
And our hearts so full of pain,
I shall meet you once again dear Mother,
Someday Someday.
Jim

Writing to his two sisters and to his
nephew, Vernon, Jim wrote:

To Deb and San with love to Ver:

Dear Sisters true I send to you,
Hearty thanks for your kind greetings,
A glow of pride comes by my side,
When I think of our meeting.
I fancy how we shall be,
As side by side we gather,
Such joy and happiness there'll be,
That dark clouds will not matter.
So don't forget dear sisters now,
No matter if you tire,
That longer are your letters to me,
They help to kindle the fire,
Of a love that's true, for both of you,
I love to think of memories sweet,
That we have spent together,
But oh what pleasant thankfulness,
When I receive your letters.
Your affectionate brother Jim.

Deb XX Ver XX San XX


Irene Leach	Tom Leach

After their father died, their Aunt Eunice took Irene and Tom in to look after them. Irene remembers sitting on the floor at Auntie Eunice's house with Tom and holding his hand and she said to him "I don't like it here, do you?" and Tom said "No". Eunice had a son who was killed in the war soon after this. Then the Minister of the church arranged for a brother and sister (Gladys and Arthur) who needed accommodation to look after Irene and Tom in their own home. When Tom was really hard up, Gladys Clough (who was a paying guest in the house) bought him an enormous pair of ladders so he could earn money cleaning windows.

During her seventeenth year, Irene joined a tennis club and liked the type of sporting people she became involved with, she had by this time got herself a good job in ICI Blackley, and was becoming a little more independent, and able to help her mother financially. Irene enjoyed being a secretary - she used a dictaphone with earphones.

Through the tennis club she met and eventually married Edgar Snelson, a good companiable man, who completely took over her life. They were to have a five-year engagement, so that by that time they would be able to buy a house of their choice in Lytham St. Annes. She now had no worries, which appealed to her. Life had been so sad for Irene after her father's death. Irene married George Edgar Snelson (Edgar) on 1st June 1935 at the age of 25. Life was very pleasant in Lytham. Irene and Edgar again joined a Tennis and Cricket Club and made many friends, but at the same time there was constant fear of war, and when in 1939, war was declared then life changed completely. Women were asked to take up jobs to help the war effort and Irene went to work in the government at the Ministry of Fuel and Power. Edgar volunteered for the Air Force.

Irene's mother became seriously ill and came to live with them at Lytham St. Annes. Rebecca was fifty-six when she died, in about 1943. Her daughter, Irené, remembers that it was a terrible time - the war was on (her husband, Edgar, was away) and Irené had her mother to stay with her in Lytham St. Annes. Tom got special leave from the airforce and arrived to see his mother two days before she died of cancer and he saw to all the funeral arrangements. Rebecca's only grandson, Trevor Leach, was born three years after she died.

George Edgar Snelson (Edgar)
b. 19
d. 19?

Irene Leach
b. 1910
d. 4th February 2005

Freda Leach, Edgar and Irene Snelson

During the war years, Irene had found that with all the responsibilities of running a home, a job and the grief for her mother she had become a stronger personality and so when the war was over and Edgar returned they were both very different people. Their marriage began to go wrong and in her search for some sort of happiness she fell in love with Alan Cleaver, the captain of their Cricket Club, whom she had known for many years. Alan left his Market Gardening in Lytham and got a job in the same field in Yorkshire and wrote to Irene asking her to join him. Tom was a tower of strength during this time and helped Irene to come to her decision to be with Alan.

Alan Cleaver

Irene at age 42 in 1950s

Irene wrote in 1989: "Thomas Leach was an intelligent and caring boy, always with a loving nature in every form. He loved to laugh and had the knack of making people laugh in the telling of an ordinary everyday event. Even in the early years, he and his sister were often in trouble and ended under the table giggling. At about the age of twelve, their father died and although his school Headmaster wanted Tom to go on to higher schooling, this was impossible, his mother was now a widow and she needed both Tom and Irene to be in employment. After a year or two, Tom got a job in a large Glass firm in Salford as an assistant clerk. Some of his leisure time was spent playing snooker with his friends. Tom loved to cycle and he and Irene often went for cycle rides in what was left of adjacent countryside. Eventually, Tom met and fell in love with the girl who became his wife, and as the 1939-1945 war was looming they decided to marry and live for the time being in his mother's home:, No.3 Pine Street, Salford, Manchester. While in the Air Force, Tom's mother died while living with Irene in Lytham St. Annes. Irene had taken her mother to live with her because she realised how very ill her mother had become. Tom was given compassionate leave from the Air Force and he was so pleased to see her face light up when she saw him in his Officer's uniform for the first time, but she died a few days later. Tom then returned home at the end of the war to carry on with his job as Insurance Agent and later promotion to Superintendent in Buxton where he eventually lived until his death in 1957."

Alan Cleaver
b. 19
d. 198?

Irene Leach
b. 1910
d. 2004?

In 1916, there were two small children living with them in the small home at Vauxhall Road: her brother James' children, Tom who was four and Irené who was starting school. Deborah and Roger's son, Vernon, lived next door. The fathers, Roger and James, were away in the first world war.

Alice Ann rhymed letters to her brother, James, and to Roger Aspinall, her brother-in-law, while they were away in France in World War I. She copied the letters she sent to them and the ones she received back and later took them to the USA and made a book of them.