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270:'s world tour with his baseball team when it played in England in 1889. Ley decided that, as a way of ensuring a healthier and more productive workforce, an investment should be made in promoting recreation for his workers. During his journey to the States, Ley had seen the way in which baseball fields had been laid out by companies and factories for the use by their workers and decided to follow suit on his return to Derby. Consequently, Ley had what was to be called
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Following his first wife's death he married Alison
Catherine Jobson in 1888. They had two sons who both joined the Armed Forces. Christopher Francis Aden Ley was the elder, born in 1893. He joined the South Nottinghamshire Hussars and became a captain in the Royal Flying Corps. He died in March 1918
315:
become tenants of Ley's grounds in 1895. Ley's Derby
Baseball Club continued on, dominating baseball until 1900, at which point (at Ley's behest) local football clubs formed baseball clubs to join the league, including a Derby County Baseball Club. The Baseball Ground continued to be used under that
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The
National Baseball League of Great Britain and Ireland was started in 1890 and a letter was sent to Spalding in America requesting help in establishing a league. The British requested eight to ten players to coach and convert the existing players whose primary game was usually football. Spalding,
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In 1878 he was sued for patent infringement by an
American drive chain belt company; the case was settled and Ley's company was awarded sole manufacturing rights. By the 1880s Ley was demolishing his old works and rebuilding on a grander scale. The new factory was to include expensive sporting
309:; however, pressure from other teams in the league over the number of American professionals (three) on the team led to Derby withdrawing when they would have been the first British champions. Derby did win the amateur British title three times in the 1890s.
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Ley first married
Georgina Townsend and they had a son and two daughters. His first son, Henry Gordon Ley (1874–1944), is pictured left with his father. His daughter Ethel Ley (1873–1953) married in
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Ley's grounds were used for a variety of sports. A picture below shows Ley's 1912 cricket team. Remarkably it contains three players who were capped for
England at football. These were
305:. The first three used Hart to decide the line-up of their teams, but Ley, who had more experience of baseball, made his own decisions. Derby ran away with the first professional
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359:, Bishop of Ripon, and himself a colonial official in Egypt, where he was Chief Inspector to the Ministry of Public Instruction, then Inspector General of Schools.
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having survived the 1915 Gallipoli campaign and outlived his younger brother. Maurice Aden Ley was two years younger and a
Lieutenant; he died in November 1914.
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in
Cumbria. His Manor and grounds have been converted to residential dwellings, and there is an industrial estate named after him in Derby.
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of 14 April 1876 Ley was granted a patent for "improvements in apparatus for locking and fastening nuts on fish plate and other bolts".
520:
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438:
Tony Mason, ‘Ley, Sir
Francis, first baronet (1846–1916)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
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Ley visited the United States of
America in 1889, and was impressed by the game of baseball. Some people had been intrigued by
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395:. When Ley died he owned the company and Derby County F.C.'s sports ground. He also owned 6,500 aces of farmland and was the
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facilities. Ley was never sporting himself but he was an enthusiast for sport and sat on the board of
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built; a 12-acre (49,000 m) park for the use of workers with cricket and baseball facilities.
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216:). He was the only son of George Phillips Ley and Sarah (born Potts). He started work at
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A 1912 Ley's Cricket team that includes three members of the England Football team
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as a draughtsman and learnt about engineering. At the age of 28 he established a
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Another Derby Baseball Club team – which on the middle row from left includes
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The intention had been to have eight teams but initially there were just four
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141:(3 January 1846 – 27 January 1916) was an English industrialist. He founded
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who also sold sporting goods, was enthusiastic and sent a skilled manager,
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The Register Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1916
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The Vulcan Iron Works at Osmaston Road occupied an 11-acre site by the
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in 1874. The business became the Ley's Malleable Castings Company Ltd.
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on 16 December 1902 Henry John Boyd-Carpenter (1865–1923), a son of
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The mess room for Ley's Malleable Castings in Colombo Street, Derby
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and players: William J. Barr, Charles Bartlett, J.E.Prior and
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The Vulcan iron foundry was closed and demolished in 1986.
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The 1890 Derby Baseball team with Francis Ley at centre.
635:. No. 36956. London. 20 December 1902. p. 1.
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Baseball without borders: the international pastime
472:(1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
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554:Ley's Vulcan Iron Works, Derby. Area over 11 acres
316:name as the home of Derby County F.C. until 1997.
786:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
165:(later known as Derby Baseball Club) and owned
525:The Leys Malleable Castings Company Ltd Works
8:
468:Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors).
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347:, Ley's son, H. Gordon Ley and Ley himself
327:on the left but one of the middle row and
204:Francis Ley was born on 3 January 1846 in
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604:, George Gmelch, p.268, accessed May 2010
143:Ley's Malleable Castings Vulcan Ironworks
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521:"North East Midland Photographic Record"
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621:, Jerry Kuntz, p.47, accessed May 2010
510:, Hesperides, p.155, accessed May 2010
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233:Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
169:from 1890 to 1924, which was home to
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806:People from Derbyshire (before 1895)
527:. November 1987. pp. DMAG000991
208:which at the time was in south-west
811:19th-century English businesspeople
619:Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines
224:castings foundry on Osmaston Road,
43:from a photo with his Baseball team
14:
677:. 29 December 1905. p. 9320.
456:, Graces Guide, accessed May 2010
184:and, in the same year, served as
791:High sheriffs of Nottinghamshire
701:Baronetage of the United Kingdom
470:Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage
748:High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire
692:Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
393:High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire
331:who is first on the front row.
186:High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire
816:Baseball in the United Kingdom
588:. 14 April 1876. p. 2490.
494:. 21 March 1905. p. 2179.
323:on the right of the back row,
245:Derbyshire County Cricket Club
1:
139:Sir Francis Ley, 1st Baronet
176:In 1905, Ley was created a
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741:Thomas Lewis Kekewich Edge
646:CWGC record for C.F.A. Ley
313:Derby County Football Club
218:Andrew Handyside & Co.
171:Derby County Football Club
796:Businesspeople from Derby
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272:"Ley's Recreation Centre"
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758:Joseph Frederick Laycock
657:CWGC record for M.A. Ley
454:Leys Malleable Castings
167:Ley's Recreation Centre
113:Alison Catherine Jobson
801:People from Epperstone
556:. JISC. Archived from
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357:William Boyd Carpenter
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149:. He (re-)introduced
718:(of Epperstone Manor)
387:and he was created a
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163:Ley's Recreation Club
89:Burton Grammar School
16:English industrialist
132:George and Sarah Ley
440:accessed 4 May 2010
303:Derby Baseball Club
674:The London Gazette
585:The London Gazette
491:The London Gazette
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367:Honours and legacy
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755:Succeeded by
725:Succeeded by
397:Lord of the Manor
295:Preston North End
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110:Georgina Townsend
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738:Preceded by
733:Honorary titles
727:Henry Gordon Ley
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182:Epperstone Manor
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70:17 January 1916
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631:"Marriages".
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562:. Retrieved
558:the original
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529:. Retrieved
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307:championship
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72:(1916-01-17)
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781:1916 deaths
776:1846 births
669:"No. 27868"
580:"No. 24314"
564:17 February
531:17 February
486:"No. 27777"
379:Ley bought
291:Aston Villa
99:Businessman
28:Francis Ley
770:Categories
722:1905–1916
686:References
550:"MediaHub"
413:Kirkoswald
353:Epperstone
329:J. Bagshaw
321:S. Bloomer
235:. In the
210:Derbyshire
96:Occupation
78:Epperstone
60:Derbyshire
633:The Times
409:Glassonby
405:Staffield
325:H. Barnes
192:Biography
161:with the
153:into the
129:Parent(s)
85:Education
280:Jim Hart
206:Winshill
157:town of
151:baseball
121:Children
56:Winshill
714:Baronet
411:around
401:Lazonby
389:Baronet
178:Baronet
104:Spouses
335:Family
752:1905
419:Notes
299:Stoke
254:Sport
226:Derby
180:, of
159:Derby
147:Derby
566:2012
533:2012
301:and
124:five
67:Died
49:Born
383:in
145:in
31:Bt.
25:Sir
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
