He was born in
New Orleans,
Louisiana, to English parents, and returned with them to London, where he was baptised in 1866. He first appeared on stage at the
Princess's Theatre in 1889, in the play
True Heart, and the following year began appearing in venues such as the
Royal Music Hall and the
Oxford Music Hall. He became a popular "descriptive and character vocalist" in
music halls, performing songs and
monologues, many of which he wrote. He toured around the country, and at each venue raised money for local
veterans by selling copies of his popular songs, such as "Boys of the Chelsea School", "Forgotten", "The Best of Friends Must Part", and "All Hands on Deck", raising that way over £5,000 in total. He was an active member and supporter of the
Legion of Frontiersmen, and started a fund for veterans of the
Crimean War and the
Indian Mutiny, raising some £3,600, for which he was thanked by
King Edward VII. During the
First World War he turned to the making of
silent films. As an actor, he appeared in films including ''It's Never Too Late to Mend
(1917); The Man Who Made Good
(1917), for which he wrote the script; and Land of My Fathers'' (1921), directed by
Fred Rains, which Leyton produced. He died in London in 1948, aged 84. ==References==