James Leith Moody

James Leith Moody (1816–1896) was a British priest who served as Chaplain to the Royal Navy in China and to the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea.

The Reverend James Leith Moody
Born	25 June 1816 Barbados
Died	1896
Nationality	English
Education	Tonbridge School
Alma mater	St. Mary Hall, Oxford (BA, 1840; MA, 1863)
Occupation	Cleric
Known for	Chaplain to the Royal Navy in China and to the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea
Relatives	Colonel Thomas Moody, Kt. (Father) Major-General Richard Clement Moody (Brother) Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody CB (Brother) Colonel Richard S. Hawks Moody CB (Nephew)

He was a member of the prominent British imperialist Moody family. He was the third son of Colonel Thomas Moody, Kt.. James Leith Moody's brothers included Major-General Richard Clement Moody, the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the founder and first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia; and Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody CB, the Commander of the Royal Engineers in China. He was an uncle of Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody CB.

He was named after Sir James Leith, to whom his father had served as aide-de-camp during the Napoleonic Wars, and of whom his father was an admirer.

Family

James Leith Moody was born at St. Ann's Garrison, Barbados, West Indies, on 25 June 1816.[1] He was the fifth of ten children of Colonel Thomas Moody, Knight of the Order of Military Merit,[2][3][4][5] a scion of a prominent British imperialist family,[6] and Martha Clement (1784 - 1868), who was the daughter of Richard Clement (1754 - 1829), a major Dutch landowner of Barbados.[7][8] James Leith Moody's siblings included Major Thomas Moody (1809–1839);[3] Major-General Richard Clement Moody (1813–1887), the first Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the founder and first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia;[3][2] Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody CB (1821–1869),[3][2] Commander of the Royal Engineers in China[9][10] during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion; and Shute Barrington Moody[3][2] MICE (b. 1818), an expert on sugar cultivation in West Indies.[11][12][13] His paternal grandmother was Barbara Blamire, a member of the Blamire family of Cumberland and cousin of the politician William Blamire MP and of the poet Susanna Blamire.[14]

Moody was named after Sir James Leith,[1] to whom his father had served as aide-de-camp during the Napoleonic Wars,[6][15] and of whom his father was an admirer.[1]

Education

James Leith Moody was educated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford

James Leith was educated at Tonbridge School and St. Mary Hall, Oxford[16] (BA, 1840; MA, 1863).[1] He was ordained as a priest, by John Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1841.[1]

Career

Leith served as chaplain to the Royal Navy in China and to the British Army in the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea.[7][16][7]

Leith arrived in the Falkland Islands in October 1845, proved himself to be 'querulous and eccentric', and engaged in a feud with his own brother, Richard Clement Moody, the Governor of the Falkland Islands,[7] and, subsequently, a feud with his brother's successor as Governor, George Rennie,[1] although in the latter James Leith enjoyed the favour of the Colonial Office in London.[1] James Leith Moody left the Falkland Islands in 1854.[1] James Leith Moody was assistant chaplain to the British armed forces at Aldershot in 1859. He married Mary Willan, daughter of Rev. Willan, on 15 October 1863 at Winchester, and the couple had 5 children. His wife Mary died on 28 July 1890 at the age of 99 years. In 1865, he lived at Walmer, Kent. He was Rector of Virginstow, Launceston, Cornwall, from 1876 to 1879. He was Vicar of St. John the Baptist, Clay Hill, Enfield, from 1879 to 1885, when he retired to Dulwich, where he died in 1896.[1]

He is commemorated on a stamp, of 1994, in the Foundation of Stanley Series of stamps, which was issued in the Falkland Islands.[1]

References

1. "Entry for Moody, James Leith, in Dictionary of Falklands Biography".
2. Hamilton Vetch, Robert. "Moody, Richard Clement, in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885 – 1900, Vol. 38".
3. "Legacies of British Slave-Ownership: Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Moody: Profile and Legacies Summary". University College London. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
4. Hall, Catherine (2014). Legacies of British Slave-Ownership. Cambridge University Press. p. 61.
5. "The Royal Engineers: Colonel Richard Clement Moody". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
6. Rupprecht, Anita (September 2012). "'When he gets among his countrymen,they tell him that he is free': Slave Trade Abolition, Indentured Africans and a Royal Commission". Slavery & Abolition. 33 (3): 435–455.
7. "Entry for Moody, Richard Clement, in Dictionary of Falklands Biography".
8. "Legacies of British Slave Ownership: Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Moody: Imperial Legacy Details".
9. War Office of Great Britain (1863). Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 25 June, 1863 : for, "Copy of the Correspondence Between the Military Authorities at Shanghai and the War Office Respecting the Insalubrity of Shanghai as a Station for European Troops:" "And, Numerical Return of Sickness and Mortality of the Troops of All Arms at Shanghai, from the Year 1860 to the Latest Date, showing the Per-centage upon the Total Strength". p. 107.
10. Meehan, John D. Chasing the Dragon in Shanghai: Canada's Early Relations with China, 1858–1952. p. 17.
11. Parliamentary Papers. H.M. Stationery Office. 1848. p. 129.
12. Newton, W. (1844). Newton's London Journal of Arts and Sciences. p. 293.
13. Scoffern, John (1849). The Manufacture of Sugar in the Colonies and at Home: Chemically Considered. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. p. A2.
14. "The Moody Family, Some Longtown Families". Retrieved 4 July 2016.
15. Leith Hay, Sir Andrew (1818). Appendix to Memoirs of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith GCB. William Stockdale. p. 12.
16. Hughes-Hughes, W. O. (1893). Entry for Moody, James Leith, in The Register of Tonbridge School from 1820 to 1893. Richard Bentley and Son, London. p. 30.

Further reading

• "Entry for Moody, James Leith, in Dictionary of Falklands Biography".
• Hughes-Hughes, W. O. (1893). Entry for Moody, James Leith, in The Register of Tonbridge School from 1820 to 1893. Richard Bentley and Son, London. p. 30.