John Leigh
Sir John Leigh, 1st Baronet (3 August 1884 – 28 July 1959) was a British mill-owner, who used his fortune to buy a newspaper and launch his career as a Conservative Party politician. Of the Leigh Waste Co
Leigh was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and made his fortune in the Lancashire cotton industry.
He was made a baronet in February 1918, of Altrincham in Cheshire, and at some point around 1921 he purchased the Pall Mall Gazette newspaper. He was rumoured at the time to be worth fourteen million pounds.
In 1922 he have financial help to Austin by investing £200,000
He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Clapham division of Wandsworth at a by-election in May 1922 after the resignation of the Conservative MP Sir Arthur du Cros, and held the seat until he retired from politics at the 1945 general election.