Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Leighton, Stanley
LEIGHTON, STANLEY (1837–1901), politician and antiquary, was second son of Sir Baldwin Leighton (1805-1871), of Loton Park, Shropshire; seventh baronet, and an authority on economic policy, by his wife Mary, daughter and eventual heiress of Thomas Netherton Parker of Sweeney Hall, Oswestry, the author of several pamphlets on rural economy. The Leighton family, which traces its pedigree from Richard de Leighton, knight of the shire for Shropshire in 1313, had held Loton in the male line since the reign of Henry VII, and the baronetcy dates from 1693. Sir Baldwin (1747-1828), sixth baronet married Margaret Louisa Anne, daughter of Sir John Thomas Stanley of Alderley (1735-1807) and sister of John Thomas Stanley, first baron Stanley of Alderley. Stanley, born at Loton on 13 Oct. 1837, was educated at Harrow and at Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. and M.A., 1864). In 1861 he was called to the bar from the Inner Temple, but relinquished the law on succeeding in 1871 to his mother's property at Sweeney Hall, where he devoted himself to local affairs. At the general election in 1874 he was a candidate in the conservative interest for Bewdley, but was beaten by 99 votes. In 1876, when a vacancy occurred in the representation of North Shropshire, Leighton promptly offered himself as a candidate. Although a conservative, his candidature was not acceptable to the majority of the county gentry, who adopted S. K. Main waring; but Leighton was returned by a majority of 37, due to liberal support given to him as the opponent of the nominee of the county gentry. Yet his principles were uncompromisingly conservative, and, though preserving a considerable independence of judgment, he quickly won the confidence of those who originally opposed him, and continued to represent North Shropshire and (after the division of the county in 1885) the Oswestry division until his death. His style of speaking was not well suited to the House of Commons, and his influence there was mainly due to his recognised position as a convinced supporter of church and state. He was a devoted churchman, and took a leading part in the establishment of the Clergy Pensions Institution. In the House of Laymen he represented the diocese of Lichfield. He also took a prominent part in all public matters in North Shropshire, and commanded the Oswestry volunteer corps from 1871 to 1880.
Apart from public life, antiquarian study was Leighton's strongest taste. He became F.S.A. in 1880 and was a vice- president of the Shropshire Archæological Society from its foundation. Papers by him on the 'Records of the Corporation of Oswestry' and the 'Papers and Letters of Gen. Mytton during the Civil Wars' appear among its 'Transactions.' He was president of the Cambrian Archæological Association in 1893, and in 1897 he founded the Shropshire Parish Register Society. He was an accomplished amateur artist, and made large collections for an illustrated history of the fine ancient houses with which Shropshire abounds. One volume, 'Shropshire Houses Past and Present' (1901), containing drawings and descriptions of 50 houses, was in the press at the time of his death. Materials remain for at least eight more volumes.
Deeply interested in religious education, he helped to re-organise the school for Welsh children of both sexes which had existed in London under the auspices of the Society of Antient Britons since 1715. The Act of 1870 rendered superfluous its original purpose of giving elementary education, and mainly through Leighton's initiative it was converted in 1882 into the flourishing school for the secondary education of girls of Welsh parentage at Ashford in Middlesex.
Leighton died somewhat suddenly in London on 4 May 1901, and was buried at Oswestry. In 1873 he married Jessie Marie, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Bertie Watkin Williams Wynn, of Nantymeiched, Montgomeryshire. He left a son, Rortie Edward Parker, now (1912) captain in the 1st dragoons, and a daughter, Rachel. His portrait, the last work of Sir J. E. Millais, was presented to him by his constituents in 1896, and is now at Sweeney Hall.
[Oswestry Advertiser, 8 May 1901; memoir by W. P. W. P[hillimore] in Shropshire Parish Registers, Hereford Diocese, vol. vi. 1902; personal knowledge.]