He was a member of a Yorkshire
Quaker family. His father was William Leatham, a banker from Heath, near
Wakefield and his mother was Margaret née Walker of
Leeds. Leatham entered banking, working in Wakefield,
Pontefract and
Doncaster from 1836 to 1852. In 1839 he married Priscilla Gurney of Upton,
West Ham. He was a
justice of the peace and
deputy lieutenant for the
West Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1870 was deputy chairman of the West Riding
quarter sessions. He made his home at Hemsworth Hall, Pontefract.
Six years later, he was again the Liberal candidate at Wakefield, and was elected as the town's
Member of Parliament. He left the
Commons in
1868. In
1874 he was again a parliamentary candidate, this time for the two-seat
Southern Division of the West Riding, but failed to be elected. Six years later, in
1880, he was successfully returned to parliament for the constituency. In
1885 the seat was abolished, and Leatham left parliament. His younger brother,
Edward Aldam Leatham, was MP for
Huddersfield. W H Leatham died on 14 November 1889, aged 74. ==Family==