This line belongs to the LEAK side of the Family

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William LEAK  -  L1                                                                                                                                                                                                  Top

Date and place of birth not known

Married to Dorothy (?) ..........

Daniel (1701-    ) m. Anne ........

Robert (1706-    )

Ann (1713-    )

Thomas (1714-    )

Francis (1718-    )

Died (Buried) 27 Dec 1725 in Denton, Lincolnshire

The family first appears in the village of Denton on the Lincolnshire-Leicestershire border at the end of 1701.  Where William and his wife came from is not yet known.

Dorothy LEAK, widow, who was buried in Denton on 14 Feb 1732/33 must surely have been William's wife.  Now to track down where they were married .......!

Owing to the appearance of the names Francis, Daniel and William in a family in East Leake in Nottinghamshire, all baptized in the early 1680s and then disappearing from that parish, it was felt there might be a connection with this family.  However, investigation of the East Leake parish registers and the discovery of the will of the supposed father of 'our' William shows, with 99% certainty, that there is no link.  [If anyone who reads this would like to see the results of my East Leake researches, please send me an e-mail]

Daniel LEAK  -  M1                                                                                                                                                                                  Link to father

Born (Baptized) 1 Mar 1701/02 in Denton, Lincolnshire, England

Married to Anne ..........

William (1735-1739)

John (1737-1812) m. Frances WALLIS

William (1739-1799) m. (1) Mary .....  (2) Ann BAXTER (1797)

Mary (1746-1768 or 1776)

Daniel (1748-    ) m. Ann GREEN (1772)

Date of death not known

Anne was buried (probable identification) in Denton on 25 Apr 1784.  Note:  there is 'room' for Anne to have been Daniel's second wife.

John LEAK   -  N1                                                                                                                                                                                    Link to father

Born (Baptized) 10 Apr 1737 in Denton, Lincolnshire, England

Married 14 Sep 1766 (by banns) to Frances WALLIS in Denton, Lincolnshire

John (1767-    )

Daniel (1768-1853)

Jane (1770-    ) m. Joseph WILKINSON (1793)

John (1772-    ) m. Sarah WING (1797) (?)

Frances (1774-1847) m. Richard BREWSTER (1796)

Thomas (1775-1842) m. Ann BURGIN (1803)

Ann (1777-    )

Robert (1779-    ) m. Sarah MARRIOTT

William (1782-1783)

William (1784-    )

Died 28 May 1812 in Denton, Lincolnshire

The entry in the Parish Register of Deaths is presumed to refer to this John LEAK.

The 1841 census shows the sons, Daniel and Thomas, farming together in Denton, and their cousin (currently, preferred) or brother, John, a Whitetawer (Saddler or Harness Maker), living in the next property.  All these were then in their mid-sixties or early seventies.  It is not unreasonable to assume that their father John had previously farmed there (and, maybe his father before him).  Evidence to this effect may yet come to light.  It looks as if their younger brother, Robert, was the one to take the meat to market, so becoming a butcher [investigate the type of farming on the Welby estate, of which Denton was a part].

Witnesses at the marriage of Thomas LEAK and Ann BURGIN were John AUGUR, Robt LEAK, T BURGIN, R TRYNER and H BURGIN - an unusual number of witnesses.

Robert LEAK  -  O1                                                                                                                                                                                 Link to father

Born (Baptized) 29 Dec 1779 in Denton, Lincolnshire, England

Married (by licence) 12 Aug 1805 to Sarah MARRIOTT in Knipton, Leicestershire

John (1806-1885) m. Mary SOUTHERN (1837)    o

Thomas (1808-1869) m. (1) Harriet TAYLOR  (2) Eliza KITTRIDGE

Ann (1810-1810)

Date of death not known

A positive identification of Robert LEAK, son of John LEAK (above) and father of Thomas LEAK (below), has now been established.  Knipton, where he was married, is just 3 miles down the road from Denton.  The marriage licence shows his age, occupation and signature.  These all match the proposed detail on father, son and family.

Robert's wife died, probably in childbirth, when their two boys were infants and the evidence points to Thomas, at least, being fostered by the BURGIN family in Denton.  To see an explanation for this, please follow the link to BURGIN.  Robert had been one of the witnesses at the marriage of his elder brother, Thomas, to Ann BURGIN - the signatures match precisely.

What happened to Robert, after the death of Sarah in 1810, still remains a mystery.  He was not in Denton for the census in 1841.  His name was given, with occupation, Butcher, by his son, Thomas on his marriage certificates in 1839 and 1842.  However, this does not prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that he was still alive.

A cousin, Robert LEAK (1774-1846), son of  William (1739-1799), has been traced to Osbournby, Lincs., where his first wife (probably) died.  He married for the second time, there, and moved to Nottingham.  He came to Nottingham as a Butcher but turned Blacksmith in middle life.  Stranger things have happened - the evidence is there!  Send me an e-mail if you are interested.

Thomas LEAK  -  P1                                                                                                                                                                                  Link to father

Born 9 Apr 1808

Baptized 10 Apr 1808 in Market Overton, Rutland, England

    and (again) 10 Jul 1808 in Knipton, Leicestershire

Married (1) 11 Sep 1839 (by banns) to Harriet TAYLOR in St Martin, Middlesex (London)

Henrietta (1840-1840)

Married (2) 30 Jun 1842 (by banns) to Eliza KITTRIDGE in Cambridge

Edward (1843-1891) m. Emma Anne DONALDSON (1868)

Richard (1848-1898) m. (1) Sarah Ann DAVIS  (2) Harriet Alice ATTERTON

Thomas (1849-    ) m. Mary Ann (Polly) DONALDSON (1872) - Emigrated to USA (New York)

John (1853-1856)

Robert (1856-1933) m. Laura Ann FOSTER (1882)

Frederick (1860-1889) m. Caroline Sarah (Carrie) RINGER (1884)

Died 16 Mar 1869 in Southwark, Surrey (London)

Thomas's birthday and age at death are as recorded by his son, Richard Burgin LEAK.  The entry for his baptism in the Parish Register for Market Overton fits precisely, both for its date and the name of his parents.  This is the only LEAK record in Market Overton and there is no other Robert and Sarah LEAK to be found in this or the neighbouring county indexes.  There is just one MARRIOTT reference in this parish, the death of one who may turn out to be Sarah's grandmother.  One wonders if Sarah was staying with an aunt away from home at the time of the birth [more investigation needed here!].   The second entry is found in the home parish of Knipton, just three months later!

For the 1851 Census, Thomas was in London and gave his 'place of birth' as Denton, ten miles miles from Market Overton and three miles from Knipton.  We interpret this as indicating that he was brought up in Denton (where his father's family lived - he may never have known where he was baptized).  Later in life, Thomas used BURGIN as a middle name.  It is suggested that he was fostered by a BURGIN connection in Denton.  For details, please follow the link to BURGIN.  Unfortunately, the 1861 Census entry appears to belong on a torn page of the relevant register and is missing.

The BURGIN note includes a suggestion of what may have taken him away from his home area.    We note that Thomas's eldest son was named Edward, after his wife's father, and his second son, Richard, after his supposed foster-father.  Not until his fifth son was born did he use the name of his own father, Robert.  Is it possible that he was estranged from his father?

As for Thomas's occupation, we note that his uncle, Richard BREWSTER (see above) is shown in the 1851 census, then aged 79, as a cordwainer.  It looks as if Uncle Richard taught young Thomas his trade.

After his first (hasty) marriage in London, Thomas appears in Thompson's Lane,Cambridge as a Shoemaker (1840, 1842) or a Cordwainer Journeyman (= Shoemaker, 1841 census).  Following the deaths of his first child and his wife, he lived alone in Thompson's Lane (census), re-married in Cambridge and left for London within a year.  The family maintained links with Cambridge through his second wife, Eliza's family.  They lived in Lambeth and in 1847 their eldest child, Edward, now 4, was baptized in Cambridge at the same ceremony as a KITTRIDGE cousin [The baptismal record at St Clements, Cambridge gives their address as Kennington, Middlesex - this should be Surrey].  Thomas was Bootmaker to Bethlem Hospital in Lambeth.  He died at King Edward School [investigate this].

[Alice LEAK (d. 1935) stated that both her father-in-law, Thomas Burgin LEAK and his father were married in Cromer, Norfolk.  There are LEAK families in Cromer, but extensive checks have not revealed any connection.  Since Alice was widowed in 1898, anything she put down about her husband's family in the 1930s depended on a memory going back nearly forty years.  She didn't pick up 'Cromer' from nowhere - perhaps there is a cousin-link?]

This research is ongoing.

Richard Burgin LEAK   -  Q1 -  see photo                                                                                                                                     Link to father

Born 16 May 1848 in Lambeth, Surrey (London), England

Married (1) 12 May 1874 to Sarah Ann DAVIS in Southwark, Surrey (London)

Eliza Sarah (Lily) (1875-    )

Married (2) 23 Dec 1876 to Harriet Alice ATTERTON in Southwark, Surrey (London)

Ethel Alice (1878-1948) m. Harold Abram BLAKE (1916)

Richard Atterton (1879-1967) m. Margaret HAMILTON

Robert James (1880-1886)

Ernest Walter (1882-1892)

Reginald Edward (1886-1943)

Hildegarde Mabel (1887-1888)

Charles Francis (1890-1957) m. Ivyana SMITH (1929)

Died 14 Mar 1898 in Edmonton, Middlesex (London)

Richard was married, on both occasions, by Rev. Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Southwark,  His second wife had been one of the witnesses at his first marriage.  He was a Bookseller and Stationer and ran an Advertising Agency. 

Richard's children, Ethel and Richard, never knew of the existence of their elder step-sister, Lily, although she was recorded in the family in the 1881 census.  No evidence has been found for an early death and one imagines that she may have been adopted out.  Investigations continue!

Richard Atterton LEAKE   -  R1                                                                                                                                                         Link to father

Born 6 Apr 1879 Hackney, Middlesex (London), England

Married 12 Jun 1935 to Margaret HAMILTON in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

!!!!!!!!!!

Died 5 Jul 1967 in Heronsgate, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

All members of the family changed their name from LEAK to LEAKE on 1st January 1916.
 

This page edited to 17 December 2003
Re-formatted 2 Sep 2006

If you have found a connection or just suspect that you may link up somewhere or have any other comment, please send me an e-mail .  If you find an error, however small, please also let me know.