Samuel Ledgard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Samuel Ledgard was a Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

entrepreneur who became a major West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

Independent bus operator. Following his death in 1952, his executors continued to operate the Samuel Ledgard bus company up until 1967, when it was acquired by the West Yorkshire Road Car Company.

1874 - 1952

Samuel Ledgard was born in Leeds in 1874. His business empire started in 1897 when he became the licensee of the Nelson Hotel in Armley

Armley

Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than a mile from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the industrial revolution and had several mills, one of which is now the Armley Mills museum...

, Leeds. He also owned a brewery and bottling plant, located behind The Nelson and bottled bulk Guinness and Bass. In expanding this business he provided outside catering

Catering

Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...

at race meetings and local shows, and initially used a horse-and-cart to support this enterprise. This led him to further expand into the haulage business - initially with his horses then, in 1906, with a steam lorry. In 1912 he bought a Karrier

Karrier

Karrier is a marque of car and commercial vehicle, the origins of which can be traced back to Clayton and Company, a 1904 company from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. In 1908, they started making Karrier cars and in 1920 changed the company name to Karrier Motors Ltd.In 1929, Karrier started...

petrol-engined lorry, registered U1949. He then bought an interchangeable charabanc

Charabanc

A charabanc or "char-à-banc" is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It was especially popular for sight-seeing or "works outings" to the country or the seaside, organised by businesses once a year...

body, manufactured by William Nicholson of Otley

Otley

-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...

, to be fitted to his lorry for carrying passengers at weekends when there was little haulage work. In 1913 he took over Bridge Garage in Leeds to service and repair his own, and others, vehicles. His other businesses included cattle dealing and farming, quarrying and gravel extraction. He also bought property around his hotel, which eventually provided space for his bus garage.

His move into bus service was in 1924 with a Horsforth

Horsforth

Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying to the north west of Leeds. It has a population of 18,928....

to Leeds service. He expanded both organically and by taking over a number of other bus companies from 1924 to 1943, by which time Samuel Ledgard buses were well established, operating from the main depot in Armley, and from other depots in Otley, Yeadon, Ilkley and Bradford.

The Ledgard fleet was predominantly Leyland

Leyland Motors Ltd

Leyland Motors Limited was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. It gave its name to the British Leyland Motor Corporation formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings, later to become British Leyland after being nationalised...

and the last buses ordered by Samuel Ledgard were three Leyland Titan PD2/12s. These entered service a mere month before he died in April 1952.

1952 - 1967

Samuel Ledgard's estate totalled £129,491. The death duties on this amounted to £29,883 which threatened the continuance of the business and meant that, when looking to update the fleet, the executors had to look to the second-hand market. This strategy resulted a wide range of vehicles from various manufacturers entered service, including buses from: AEC, Albion

Albion Motors

Albion Automotive of Scotstoun, Glasgow is a former Scottish automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, currently involved in the manufacture and supply of Automotive component systems....

, Bristol

Bristol Commercial Vehicles

Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer of in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built....

, Daimler

Daimler Motor Company

The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...

and Leyland

Leyland Motors Ltd

. A significant influx was 23 ex-London Transport 'austerity' Daimler CWA6's with Park Royal bodywork during 1953-1954, 22 of which went into service unmodified save for platform doors being fitted. Thhey gave stirling service until the last was withdrawn in 1962. However, one notable exception to the second-hand purchases was six new AEC Regent V

AEC Regent V

The AEC Regent V was a front-engined double-decker bus built by the Associated Equipment Company between 1954 and 1969. It was the last version of AEC Regent series double-decker and built as the successor of the AEC Regent III .The Regent V had AEC's own frontal design and concealed radiator as...

buses with Roe

Charles H. Roe

Charles H. Roe Ltd. was a Yorkshire coachbuilding company. It was for most of its life based at Crossgates Carriage Works, in Leeds.In 1947 it was taken over by Park Royal Vehicles. Two years later, along with its parent, it became part of Associated Commercial Vehicles in 1949, which was merged...

bodywork which were delivered in 1957. One of these buses was registered 1949U - a reversal of the registration on Samuel's first petrol lorry, in 1912.

In an attempt to standardise such a diverse fleet, 1963 saw the first of many ex-London Transport RT-type AEC Regent III

AEC Regent III RT

The AEC Regent III RT was a variant of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus during the 1950s.-Prototype:...

buses being purchased. Over the next four and a half years 34 of these vehicles entered the Ledgard fleet.

In August 1967 it was announced that West Yorkshire Road Car Company

West Yorkshire Road Car Company

The West Yorkshire Road Car Company Ltd was a major bus operator covering North and West Yorkshire. The company was generally referred to as West Yorkshire...

would acquire the Ledgard business. The date for this was set to be midnight on Saturday 14 October 1967. Whilst Ledgard's staff were offered employment with West Yorkshire, only 14 of over 100 Ledgard vehicles acquired by West Yorkshire entered service - ten AEC Regent V and two Daimler CVG6 buses, and two Duple

Duple Coachbuilders

Duple was best known as a British manufacturer of coach and bus bodywork from 1919 until 1989.-History:Duple Bodies & Motors Ltd was formed in 1919 by Herbert White in Hornsey, London...

-bodied Ford coaches. By 1970 even these vehicles had been sold.

The present day

An active enthusiasts society (the Samuel Ledgard Society)http://www.samuelledgardsociety.org.uk/ was formed in 1998. The society holds an annual reunion, social events and publishes a quarterly magazine: The Ledgard Chat.
The Nelson Hotel survives, and bears a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

in Samuel Ledgard's memory. A nearby road is named Ledgard Way.http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=ledgard+way&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=53.798788,-1.586902&spn=0.006806,0.024376&om=1&iwloc=addr
The Otley depot building is still in existence and is now used by a tyre-fitting company.

Further information

Buses Illustrated Issue No 155 (February 1968) Article 'Farewell to Ledgards' by Chris Youhill

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