226 Memoir of the late John Towlerton Leather. 



ture, 1865 ; Botanists' Companion., 1875 ; Elements of Botany, 1876 ; 

 Coloured Illustrations of Botany, with Handbook, 1870; Flora of 

 Edinburgh, 1871 ; Falaontological Botany, 1872; First and Second 

 Booh of Botany, 1 872-8 ; Guide to the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, 

 1873; Botanical Excursions, 1872-3; Botanical Tour in North of 

 Europe, 1878. He contributed various articles to the Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica, including, " Botany," " Dry Rot," besides 

 numerous papers to Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



He left a family of four sons and four daughters to mourn his 

 decease, his wife having predeceased him by two years. His 

 second son is Dr Bayley Balfour, Professor of Botany in the 

 University of Oxford. 



Professor Balfour was elected a member of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club, 30th July, 1872 ; and was occasionally present 

 at our excursions. He was President of the Club in 1878. 



Memoir of the late John Toulerton Leather, H*q., F.8.A., of 

 Leventhorpe and Middleton Hall. 



John Towlerton - Leather, of Leventhorpe, in the West 

 Riding, and of Middleton Hall, Northumberland, Esq., died at 

 Leventhorpe, June 6, 1885. 



Mr Leather had achieved his reputation as an Engineer and 

 a successful constructor of important public works, before he 

 made acquaintance with Northumberland by the purchase of the 

 Middleton estate in December 1858. He had no sooner come 

 into possession than his presence was felt in the benefits con- 

 ferred on the neighbourhood. There had been a want of work, 

 and consequent distress among the labouring classes ; and Mr 

 Leather soon proved himself an employer on a large scale, 

 prompt and liberal in his payments. Throughout the length 

 and breadth of the Middleton estate draining, planting, building, 

 to say nothing of roads and fences, became the order of the day. 

 Commencing with the cottages, he proceeded to the farm-houses 

 and steadings — some of which were built anew and the rest 

 thoroughly repaired ; and ended with adding largely to his 

 residence, which was the resort of numerous guests, especially 

 of sportsmen eager for a first-rate day's shooting. By this time 



