James Leith Moody

James Leith Moody (1816–1896) was a British clergyman who was the first priest of the Falklands Islands, where he was a member of the first Legislative and of the first Executive Council.

Family James Leith Moody was born at St. Ann's Garrison, Barbados, on 25 June 1816, into a high church landed gentry family that had a history of military service. of Colonel Thomas Moody, CRE WI, Kt., by Martha Clement (1784 - 1868) who was the daughter of the Napoleonic Wars veteran and Barbados landowner Richard Clement (1754 – 1829), and the aunt of the Belgravia cricketers Reynold Clement and Richard Clement.

His paternal grandmother was Barbara Blamire of Cumberland who was a cousin of the MP William Blamire and of the poet Susanna Blamire. His first cousin was the high church clergyman, theologian, classical scholar, and freemason, Clement Moody, Vicar of Newcastle.

Siblings James Leith Moody's siblings included: Major Thomas Moody (1809 - 1839); Major-General Richard Clement Moody (1813 – 1887) (who was the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the founder of British Columbia); during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion); and the sugar-manufacture expert Shute Barrington Moody through whom his nephew was Commander Thomas Barrington Moody (b. 1848) of the Royal Navy.

Career

James Leith was educated at Tonbridge School, from 1827 to 1835, from which he won a Smythe Exhibition, and at St. Mary Hall, Oxford (BA, 1840; MA, 1842).

He had spent five months at sea in 1845 in HMS Thalia before arrived in the Falkland Islands in October 1845, after a harsh voyage from Rio de Janeiro. He left chattels that were worth £4000 (about £200,000 in 21st century money). He is commemorated on a 1994 stamp of the 'Foundation of Stanley Series' that was issued in the Falkland Islands. who had been educated at Exeter College, Oxford, Lincoln's Inn, and The Queen's College, Oxford, and had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and Rector of St. Gerran's, Cornwall. Moody and his wife had five children. - 9 June 1955, Bromley, Kent) who was educated at Dulwich College between 1895 and 1901, and at Sarum Theological College. Reginald Frederick Moody was ordained in Durham as a deacon in 1896 and as a priest in 1897. Reginald Frederick Moody worked in the church in America between 1907 and 1909 and Rector of Spennithorne, Leyburn, Yorkshire. who was the daughter of Joseph Henry Collins and the sister of William Collins, Bishop of Gibraltar.

James Leith's other sons included The Rev. Canon William James Moody (d. 1927), formerly Rector and Sub-Dean of the Cathedral, Georgetown, British Guiana, and latterly of St. Paul's, Yelverton, who married Annie Valentine Courtney Ward, who was the daughter of Alexander Valentine Ward (d. 1874, Bombay) who was surgeon-major of Bombay.

James Leith's second son George Goldney Moody (d. 1962) , who was born at Walmer, Kent, and was latterly of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, served in the Boer War, as a machine-gunner of the Imperial Yeomanry, under James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, in which he was captured by the Boers, at Lindley during May 1900,

James Leith's other children included Alice Penderel Moody (b. c. 1868, Malta, d. 1959, St. Albans), a lace-expert who taught lacemaking on St. Helena and at 54 Sloane Square as the Principal of the Revival Pillow Lace School. She was the author of Devon Pillow Lace: Its History and How to Make It (Cassell & Co., 1907); and of Lacemaking and Collecting: An Elementary Handbook (Cassell & Co., 1909). She later lived at 23 Buckingham Palace Road, London.

Paternal Ancestry