Leyland History

[Martin]

There's a funny message in our guestbook about the origins of Leyland...

http://www.leylandtown.info/default.asp?id=0&ACT=7

[Spitfire]

Martin, I have a friend in New York who`s hobby is the history of the Titanic. His relative was 1st officer on the Titanic, a certain John Lightoller (born in Chorley). I have forwarded the clip from the guest book to him and asked for his comments. If anyone knows if it`s a wind-up or not, he will.

I know that the ship that went to the aid of the Titanic was Carpathia and she was owned by Cunard. However, there may well have been others.

[anacortesdamp]

Since the area was known as Leyland (or something that was spelled differently but sounded the same) back in Cromwell's time, it's unlikely it was named after the guest-book writer's relative in the late 1800's!

Frank

[William R]

We were always told in pre-war schooling that Leyland was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Leighland (or something like that). As for the claim that Leyland was named after some "Grandad", I would ask them to take it up with the school of thought which claims that Leyland was named after Leyland Motors in the 1920`s. Sorry, but we`ve heard it all before, Martin. William R.

[Spitfire]

I feel it`s the right thing to do in posting my friends reply in full, as he obviously took some time in preparing it.
It is also in line with the comments made by William and Frank.

Jim:

No ship rescued passengers form the "sinking" Titanic. If the California, which was with-in 10 miles of the foundering vessels had come to her aid, we would probably have never heard of Titanic other in brief passing. The ship which did come to the aid of the survivors was the Carpathia, which was owned by Cunard Lines, which later merged with White Star and now owns the QE II and the Queen Mary II. The Cunard Line was begun by Samuel Cunard in 1840 as the North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, though always known as the Cunard Line.

Now, the Californian, which watched the Titanic founder and did nothing to assist her, was owned by the Leyland Line and was captained by Stanley Lord. The Leyland line was founded by Frederick Leyland in 1873. He died in 1892 and the company was restructured and named Frederick Leyland & Co Ltd and had a close relationship with Furness Lines. By 1895 the two had merged and by 1896 was bought out again and became Wilson's & Furness-Leyland Line and North Atlantic passenger service mainly concentrating on the immigrant trade started. In 1902 the company came under the control of International Mercantile Marine Co which also had control of American Line, Dominion, Red Star, Atlantic Transport and White Star Line, the owners of the Titanic. While His Grace Lord Pirie still held shares in White Star Line, the primary share holder of International Mercantile Marine was New York Financier, industrialist and investor J.P. Morgan who was actually scheduled to sail on Titanic maiden voyage but cancelled his trip at the last minute. His suite then went to White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay the with Lady Cardoza occupying the other "Millionaire Suite." Interestingly it was her Ladyship's suite that was photographed by Cameron for his movie Titanic as being Caledon Hockley's suite.

So, in conclusion, if a town were named after the owner of the California, I would say it would be Morganville, New Jersey USA, not Leyland, Lancs, UK. As far as Leyland goes, it is mentioned in the Domesday Book which dates back to the 12th century, so I seriously doubt any ancestor of this posted was the person for whom the village was named. A Ley is a grassland or pasture and Leyland was most likely named for the surrounding pasturelands. It can also mean a path or trail. My guess is, since your area of Lancs was primarily agrarian at the time, it was probably named for the pasturelands used for sheep herding.

Hope this helps you Jim,

[Guest 01]

Both William R and I agree with the definition of Leyland as being pasture or grassland.I had always thought it was also connected with low lying land.There were vast areas of peat and mosslands in the early days in the surrounding districts, which accounts for the names of streets as Moss St -Moss Lane -Moss Side -Farington Moss-Cuerden Moss-my own family home in Lostock Hall was named Moss Lea as a reference to the peat moss origins of the area.
LG

[Martin]

I think that the message was left by a young person with a good imagination... But thanks for the post Jim, it was a good read.

[David]

With that in mind, next time any of you are having dental work done by Roger Hughlock, the somewhat celebrated Leyland dentist, please pass on my regards to Roger, who happens to be my cousin ;-))

[noel]

Good work by your friend Jim.
I suspect the youngster's family was actually named after the town and not vice verca. The explanations from others concur with my limited knowledge.

[anacortesdamp]

I was always intrigued how the "Leyland Cypress" got its name, expecting it to have some connection with our home town. I recently discovered no direct connection as it was discovered in South America somewhere by a biologist/explorer named Dr. Leyland.

Since #2 daughter named grandson "Leyland", we were going to plant one of the trees in his honor, until we found out that they grow very quickly and can exceed 200 ft high. A comment in the Daily Telegraph was "Only a horticultural moron would deliberately plant one of these things".

Frank Damp