Name/Title
1917/Urch: Leonard and the National SocietyDescription
DIGITAL IMAGE only. The National Society for Promoting Religious Education was associated with Clifford's Inn for a brief period; it must have had an office there (if Kathleen's information is correct and, generally speaking, it is impeccable). Leonard was appointed as a lecturer there in 1917; Kathleen adds: "a very good salary went with it, it was something he was extremely good at, he was gifted with a natural extemporary delivery, and he was an outstanding success all over the Southern Counties".
Crockford's Clerical Directory gives Leonard as having joined the Church of England Sunday School Institute in 1915, which must have stood him in good stead when he applied for the post at the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.
The National Society was founded in 1811 to promote Church of England education for poor children; it established numerous "National Schools" which were later absorbed into the state system. These schools provided elementary education in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England for the children of the poor.
Leonard was on a lecture tour for the National Society for Promoting Religious Education in October 1918 when he caught Spanish Influenza. He returned home a day early and died of his illness on 1 November, the day after his only child Monica was born.
Photograph: Clifford's Inn in 1885, British Library