DUNTON DAYS

After moving to London, Leatherland and his family lived in a rented house at Elms Road, Clapham. In 1925 they moved to Hooking Green in Harrow. Three years later in 1928 they moved to a house near the sea in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex where his son, John, was born the following year.

                   "Brocklehurst" Esplanade Gardens, Westcliff-on-Sea (my mother is the girl in the garden)

                    OLD RECTORY, DUNTON

In the early 1930s, he bought an Old Rectory in the Essex village of Dunton Wayletts. The Old Rectory was a large house with six bedrooms, three attic rooms, a kitchen, scullery, lounge, dining room, plus an attached cottage and 16 acres of land. The house also had stables and a pond.

Charles and his family loved this house and they lived there for fourteen years. Relatives often came to stay at the Old Rectory, and Charles' father lived there after his retirement from Cadburys.

                      The Old Rectory Dunton, home from 1934 to 1948

                           FOX HUNTER

Leatherland was unusual among Labour supporters in enjoying the sport of fox-hunting.

" For many years I kept two or three hunters. I rode them everyday. I took Tuesday off work every week to ride with the local hounds in my part of the county. I really do like horses"  (speech in House of Lords. 16 March 1965)

                                                Leatherland riding his horse

                     WORLD WAR TWO

During the Second World War, Charles remained at the Old Rectory commuting to work in London by train and car, despite regular bombing raids. His wife Mollie and children Irene and John moved to Macclesfield during the Battle of Britain.  

Leatherland chaired the local Parish Invasion Committee, which made preparations for the possibility of an invasion by German troops.

Leatherland made several brief radio broadcasts for the BBC during WW2 : 

• A two minute talk on 'The 18B Debate' on Radio Newsreeel on 21 July 1942
• A one and a half minute talk on Gas Masks for Radio Newsreel on 31 July 1942
• A two to three minute talk on London Invasion Arrangements on 6 August 1942
• A two and a half minute talk on the Order of Merit for Radio Newsreel on 1 January 1943.
• The telegram pictured above (possibly from Cecil King) complimented Leatherland on his "pleasant broadcasting voice".

                    Charles and Mollie with daughter Irene and son John

       STARLING CLOSE, BUCKHURST HILL

In the late 1940s, Mollie Leatherland became ill, and her doctor recommended moving to a smaller house. They found a nice house on the edge of Epping Forest in Starling Close, Buckhurst Hill, on the Essex borders of north-east London. They remained there for the rest of their lives.

                                        Starling Close, Buckhurst Hill