Leigh was born in Rhodesia and educated to age 16. Upon the family’s eventual return to England in 1977, Leigh settled in South London and had a brief, and somewhat unspectacular, period at the local Comprehensive school.
Leigh completed an HND in electronics at Wandsworth Technical College. There followed a three-year spell with Sony, but this was not the career for him.
Leigh was persuaded by a friend to join to Britannic Assurance in Croydon and a new career began and one that lasted over forty years. Leigh had finally found his calling. After working at Britannic for four years, Leigh moved to Scottish Mutual for two and subsequently on to CE Heath in the City, at that time based in Houndsditch. It was this move which lit the fire of interest in our great City.
Leigh was subsequently tasked with setting up an East Anglian operation for Heath’s in Peterborough. After five years, he was approached by a boutique investment business, Thomson Financial Planning, based in Victoria to join them as a director, with a view to opening an office in Cambridge. This also became a very successful regional office and Leigh was then asked to run the London office too. Eventually, after 5 years with Thomson’s , the three-hour daily commutes to either London or Cambridge lost their lustre and Leigh decided to set up his own company, closer to home.
It was a wonderful business with a very broad range of clients, including some well-known international financiers, famous actors and rock stars of the 1970’s vintage. After 20 very happy years of running and managing his own company, Leigh decided it was time to retire and the business was sold in 2020. Throughout this 40 year involvement in financial services, Leigh spent much time in the City, where many of the financial institutions and his clients were based. It was through this long association that he sought to join the Coopers’ Company, becoming a Freeman in 2010, a Liverymen in 2012 and joining the Court in 2018.
Leigh divides his time between Lincolnshire, North Norfolk and London. Leigh is married to Sarah, a fine artist and a wonderful cook. He has two stepdaughters, Georgia and Jessica, a doctor and a dentist, which should come in very handy in later life. Recent additions to the family are two grandsons. Hopefully, one might become an optician and the other a Chiropractor, to complete Leigh’s possible medical requirement needs in the future.
Outside of the company, Leigh’s interests are centred around family, food, enjoying fine wine (he is also the Wine Warden for the Coopers), and when set free to roam, he enjoys driving his sports car, photography, playing tennis and squash and is an enthusiastic leather crafter.
