James Leith Moody

The Reverend
James Leith Moody
Born25 June 1816
Barbados
Died1896
NationalityEnglish
EducationTonbridge School
Alma materSt. Mary Hall, Oxford (BA, 1840; MA, 1863)
OccupationClergyman
Known forChaplain of the Royal Navy in China; and of the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea
Relatives

James Leith Moody (1816–1896) was a British clergyman who was Chaplain of the Royal Navy in China; and of the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea.

Family

James Leith Moody was born at St. Ann's Garrison, Barbados, on 25 June 1816,[1] into a traditional merchant family with a history of military service.[2] He was named after Sir James Leith,[1] to whom his father had served as aide-de-camp during the Napoleonic Wars.[2][3][1]

He was the fifth of ten children[4][5] of Colonel Thomas Moody, CRE WI, Kt.,[2] by Martha Clement (1784 - 1868) who was the daughter of the Dutch landowner Richard Clement (1754 - 1829)[6][7] through whom he was related to the Belgravia cricketers Reynold Clement and Richard Clement.[8] His paternal grandmother was Barbara Blamire of Cumberland who was a cousin of the MP William Blamire and of the poet Susanna Blamire.[9]

James Leith Moody's siblings included: Major Thomas Moody (1809 - 1839);[5] Major-General Richard Clement Moody (1813 – 1887) (who was the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the founder of British Columbia);[5][4][1] Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody CB (1821 - 1869)[5][4] (who was Commander of the Royal Engineers in China[10][11] during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion); and the Etonian[12][13] engineer[14][15][16] Shute Barrington Moody (b. 1818).

Career

James Leith Moody was educated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford

James Leith was educated at Tonbridge School and at St. Mary Hall, Oxford[17] (BA, 1840; MA, 1863).[1] He was ordained as a priest, by John Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1841.[1]

Leith served as chaplain to the Royal Navy in China; and to the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea.[6][17] Leith arrived in the Falkland Islands in October 1845, subsequent to which he was found to be 'querulous and eccentric', by his brother Richard Clement Moody, the Governor of the Falkland Islands;[6] and also by his brother's successor as Governor George Rennie.[1] Leith left the Falkland Islands in 1854.[1]

Leith was Assistant Chaplain to the British Armed Forces at Aldershot in 1859. He on 15 October 1863 married, at Winchester, Mary Willan, who was the daughter of The Rev. Willan, by whom he had 5 children. He during 1865 lived at Walmer in Kent. He was Rector of Virginstow, at Launceston, Cornwall, from 1876 to 1879. He was Vicar of St. John the Baptist, at Clay Hill, Enfield, from 1879 to 1885, after which he retired to Dulwich where he died in 1896. His wife Mary died on 28 July 1930 at the age of 99 years.[1]

He is commemorated on a 1994 stamp of the 'Foundation of Stanley Series' that was issued in the Falkland Islands.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Entry for Moody, James Leith, in Dictionary of Falklands Biography".
  2. ^ a b c Rupprecht, Anita (September 2012). "'When he gets among his countrymen, they tell him that he is free': Slave Trade Abolition, Indentured Africans and a Royal Commission". Slavery & Abolition. 33 (3): 435–455. doi:10.1080/0144039X.2012.668300. S2CID 144301729.
  3. ^ Leith Hay, Sir Andrew (1818). Appendix to Memoirs of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith GCB. William Stockdale. p. 12.
  4. ^ a b c Hamilton Vetch, Robert. "Moody, Richard Clement, in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 – 1900, Vol. 38".
  5. ^ a b c d "Legacies of British Slave-Ownership: Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Moody: Profile and Legacies Summary". University College London. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  6. ^ a b c Tatham, David. "Moody, Richard Clement". Dictionary of Falklands Biography.
  7. ^ "Legacies of British Slave Ownership: Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Moody: Imperial Legacy Details".
  8. ^ "Hampden Clement: Profile and Legacies Summary, Legacies of British Slave Ownership, UCL". University College London. 2019.
  9. ^ "The Moody Family, Some Longtown Families". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  10. ^ War Office of Great Britain (1863). Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 25 June, 1863 : for, "Copy of the Correspondence Between the Military Authorities at Shanghai and the War Office Respecting the Insalubrity of Shanghai as a Station for European Troops:" "And, Numerical Return of Sickness and Mortality of the Troops of All Arms at Shanghai, from the Year 1860 to the Latest Date, showing the Per-centage upon the Total Strength". p. 107.
  11. ^ Meehan, John D. Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai: Canada's Early Relations with China, 1858-1952. p. 17.
  12. ^ Stapleton, H.E.C. (1884). "Year 1829". The Eton College School Lists from 1791 to 1877, with Notes and Index. Simpkin, Marshall, and Company, London. p. 146.
  13. ^ "Correspondence with Major Moody, of Barrington, Shute (1734 - 1826), Bishop of Durham".
  14. ^ Parliamentary Papers. H.M. Stationery Office. 1848. p. 128.
  15. ^ Newton, W. (1844). Newton's London Journal of Arts and Sciences. p. 293.
  16. ^ Scoffern, John (1849). The Manufacture of Sugar in the Colonies and at Home: Chemically Considered. p. A2.
  17. ^ a b Hughes-Hughes, W. O. (1893). Entry for Moody, James Leith, in The Register of Tonbridge School from 1820 to 1893. Richard Bentley and Son, London. p. 30.

Further reading