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Thomas Leo was known as Leo, and was the fifth son of William
Moorhouse (1843-1917) and his wife Angiolina. He
was born at 129
Park Lane Leeds on 11th June 1884.
His Father, William, was operating a grocery business
from 129 Park Lane and also producing Lemon Cheese to sell over the
counter as well as to other grocers.
Lemon Cheese was so popular that
William decided to set up his own business making it and other allied
products. William moved his family to 30
Alexandra Road in Burley,
Leeds in 1887 and started producing Lemon Cheese full time.
In 1889 the
family moved to 6 Lofthouse Place, which was a larger house and had
a stable and warehouse at the back. |
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Leo would have been involved at an early age with the production of
Lemon Cheese, Orange Marmalade and Mincemeat. By 1893 the business
was supporting William, Angiolina and three of the older sons.
Mr Laxton,
a business associate of William's recalled visiting the house in about
1895 and seeing Angiolina cutting out by hand from greaseproof paper
the discs, which in those days were placed on the surface of the jars
of Lemon Cheese, to prevent evaporation and crystallization after packing.
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There were also two or three hired hands
to help production. At
the First Grocers' Exhibition held in Leeds, William had a stand displaying
his products and he won a Diploma of Merit for the high quality of his
Lemon Cheese.
Additional premises were taken in Camp Road and after two
years they took a larger premises at Proctors Place off Meanwood Road.
On the 1901 census Leo is listed as a jam boiler, his brother Joseph
is a jam packer and Baldisaro is registered as a commercial bookkeeper. |
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Angiolina (Leo's Mother) died 22 March 1908, aged 55 years of cancer
of the liver at Lofthouse Place. Leo was present at her death. She is buried
at Killingbeck
cemetery (Roman Catholic cemetery) on York Road in Leeds.
In the 1911 census Thomas Leo is living at 6, Lofthouse Place, with
his Father and 4 of his brothers. He is described as a "fruit preserver
manager".
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In 1913 William signed a partnership
agreement with his sons Thomas Leo and Joseph, which created the company
William Moorhouse and sons. (Their brother Disaro was not part of the
partnership but he did work at the Company).
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In 1914 Joseph (Leo's brother) was called up for military
service and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps for most of the 1st
world War. Leo was left with his father William and brother Disaro to
run the company. I am not sure why Leo was not called up for military
service, it could be because he was not well, or maybe he was in a protected
occupation supplying food to the population.
In a speech at the 60th anniversary
of William Moorhouse & sons in
1947 Joseph pays tribute to his brothers Disaro and Leo, "both
of whom played a very large part in the developing of the business
in its early stages and who, in the war years of 1914 to 1918, were
left to carry on the responsibilities alone, my father having died
in 1917 and I being away throughout the war". |
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As mentioned above, William died on 15th April 1917 and was buried
with Angiolina at
Killingbeck.
Later in 1917 Ted (Leo's brother) married
Ethel In Burnley with Leo as the best man. |
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Mrs Hutchinson, who worked for Moorhouses and was born next to the business
in Procter's Place, recalls in a letter to Bernard Moorhouse that Mr Leo
was "fair haired and wore glasses and was my hero when I was a child". |
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Leo moved with his two bachelor brothers Joseph and Disaro to 41a Claremont
Road, Headingley. They had a housekeeper to look after them.
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Leo died on 3rd July 1921 at Claremont Road, with his
brother Joseph present, of cancer of the bladder with secondary growths
in the pelvis and abdomen.
He was buried at Killingbeck with his parents. My father John Leo Moorhouse
who was born in 1922 was named after Leo. |
<Biographies |
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