of public baths, believing like many of his contemporary social reformers, that if people had the opportunity to improve their cleanliness then that would in turn aid improvement of their moral and social behaviour. Other interests Leigh held other scientific interests, notably in botany and geology, and both shared and developed these in his close friendship with Edward William Binney and with other prominent members of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, such as John Davies, James Prescott Joule and William Sturgeon. He also published a volume of poetry, Sir Percy Legh: a legend of Lyme, and other ballads, in 1861, and wrote Lays and Legends of Cheshire. Death Leigh was still the incumbent Medical Officer at the time of his death from cardiac disease at his home in Hale Barns, Cheshire, on 11 November 1888. He was buried nearby, at Timperley, four days later. He had moved to the Manchester suburb of Whalley Range upon being appointed Medical Officer in 1868 and then relocated to a newbuild tudor-style mansion, named Manor House, in 1879. A first marriage, to Marianne Goodwin on 29 August 1840, ended with his wife's death in 1847; he then married Elizabeth Collier on 11 October 1848 and she survived until 1891. He had a son and a daughter from his first marriage, and a further two daughters and three sons from his second. One son predeceased him and it seems that the surviving male children were excluded from his will. See also James Niven References Notes Citations Bibliography Further reading 1812 births 1888 deaths Physicians of the Manchester Royal Infirmary 19th-century English medical doctors British public health doctors 19th-century British chemists 19th-century English poets Fellows of the Chemical Society