Edwin Leather - Career

Career

During the Second World War, Captain Leather served with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, Canadian Army in England and Europe. He was badly injured in a practice jump when his parachute failed to open. He rejoined his Battalion for D-day. He served in Europe during World War II with the Toronto Scottish and Royal Canadian Artillery. He wrote a manual for the Home Guard called "Combat without Weapons". He worked as an insurance broker in England and was secretary of the Central London branch of the Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians.

At the 1945 general election Leather stood without success in the Bristol South constituency, but at the 1950 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset. He was a backbencher throughout the period of Conservative governments from 1951–1964. He supported the Unions, and held office in the Association of Supervisory Staff, Executives and Technicians and supported the miners. Leather never held political office but was a popular speaker at Party Conference and other events, as well as on radio and television. He was a One Nation Tory; he forcefully opposed racism and supported the European Union.

Leather was proposed for knighthood but, still a Canadian citizen, required the support of the Canadian government which had not made any honour recommendation for some years; Prime Minister John Diefenbaker declined to support the recommendation. He was eventually knighted in 1962 when he was made a Knight bachelor, having taken British citizenship. He quit Westminster in 1964 because of illness. Poor health and the low pay for MPs forced Leather to retire from Parliament at the 1964 general election and enter business. He returned to the political scene a few years later, as vice-chairman of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, taking a leading role in fund raising and at Party Conference. In 1973, following the murder of Sir Richard Sharples, Leather was appointed Governor of Bermuda. Despite the assassination of his predecessor and an aide, he lived informally and mixed with locals; he continued to live in Bermuda after his retirement in 1977. He got in trouble with the chief of police for recklessly riding his bicycle on the island of Bermuda. He became the local representative of N M Rothschild & Sons and wrote several thrillers. As Governor, his nickname was "Imperial Leather", a pun on his surname, position and the famous brand of soap.

He was appointed KCMG in 1974 and in 1975 became the first Canadian to be appointed KCVO since the future 1st Lord Shaughnessy in 1907. Leather was an active freemason and an Anglican lay reader. During his time as Governor of Bermuda, Sir Edwin made a significant effort to include a number of influential Bermudians as part of the vice-regal household. Among them were Rev. Thomas N. Nisbett, Bermuda's first Black Anglican priest (later Canon Thomas Nisbett), and Major Eugene Raynor, who became Colonel and Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment, Bermuda's armed forces.

He was an accomplished gymnast and founded the International Sports Fellowship.