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

He was the fifth child and third son, of ten children, 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);The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume XII, by Sylvanus Urban, July to December 1839, p.214 Major-General Richard Clement Moody (1813 – 1887) (who was the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the founder of British Columbia); Colonel Hampden Clement Blamire Moody CB (1821 - 1869) (who was Commander of the Royal Engineers in China during the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion); and the sugar-manufacture expert Shute Barrington MoodyHeadstone of Shute Barrington Moody, St. Matthew's Church, Kensington Road, Marryatville, Adelaide, South Australia 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 was ordained as a priest, by John Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1841.

He served as chaplain to the Royal Navy in China; and to the British Army in Gibraltar, Malta, and Crimea.

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. In The Falkland Islands, he was found to be 'querulous and eccentric', by his brother Richard Clement Moody, the Governor of the Falkland Islands, whom he accused of breaking the sabbath; and also by his brother's successor as Governor George Rennie. He was a member of the first Legislative and of the first Executive Council of the Falkland Islands. He opened the Falkland Islands' first school on 1 January 1846 with 12 children. His sermons censured drunkenness and authoritarian governors, and his ministry was accepted by Catholics in addition to Protestants. He left the Falkland Islands in 1854.

He was Assistant Chaplain to the British Armed Forces at Aldershot in 1859. He during 1865 lived at Walmer in Kent. He was Rector of Virginstow, Launceston, Cornwall, from 1876 to 1879, and Vicar of St. John the Baptist, Clay Hill, Enfield, from 1879 to 1885. He retired to West Dulwich where he died on 28 May 1896 whilst living at Clinton House.Entry for Moody, The Reverend James Leith, in England and Wales Probate Index, 1858-1995 He left chattels that were worth £4000 (about £200,000 in 21st century money).

He and his wife Mary, who died on 28 July 1930 at the age of 99 years, are buried at Beckenham Cemetery, England.Beckenham Cemetery Graves, The Rev. James Leith Moody He is commemorated on a 1994 stamp of the 'Foundation of Stanley Series' that was issued in the Falkland Islands.

Marriage and Issue Moody married, on 15 October 1863 at Trinity Church, Winchester, Mary Longlands, who was the second daughter of The Rev. William David Longlands,The Christian Times, 21 October 1863, p. 18 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.

Issue His youngest son The Rev. Reginald Frederick Moody (13 March 1872Entry for Moody, Reginald Frederick, The Dulwich College Register 1619 to 1926 - 9 June 1955, Bromley, Kent)Entry for Moody, The Reverend Reginald Frederick, in England and Wales Probate Index, 1858-1995 who was educated at Dulwich College and at Queens' College, Cambridge between 1895 and 1901, and at Sarum Theological College.The Surrey Mirror and County Post, 17 June 1955, p. 12 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 was appointed as Chaplain to the British Embassy at Vienna in 1929, and became Vicar of St. Stithians, Cornwall, and Rector of Spennithorne, Leyburn, Yorkshire. He also worked as chaplain to the British community in Bordighera until Italy entered World War II. He during 1912 married Helen Miriam Stuart Collins,Entry for Reginald Frederick Moody, Parish of Stithians, Cornwall, 1921 England and Wales Census who was the daughter of Joseph Henry Collins and the sister of William Collins, Bishop of Gibraltar.The Cornish Telegraph, 29 August 1912, p. 3

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.The Western Morning News, 23 July 1927

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, and imprisoned, until September 1900, in a camp. He received the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps for his service in that conflict. He during 1903 married Anna Robertson, of Dog Leap, Limavady, who was the sister of biologist Muriel Robertson, and with whom he returned to South Africa where he farmed until 1920 when he returned to Britain, where he was a member of the Scout movement.The Northern Whig, 08 August 1962, p. 4

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 115 Ebury Street, from which she gave elocution lessons, and her recitals to music were praised by Queen Victoria.The Windsor and Eton Express, 1 January 1898, p. 1 She later lived at 23 Buckingham Palace Road, London.

Paternal Ancestry

References

Further reading