If you live in Milton Keynes, the chances are that you’ve seen his name.
It’s difficult to miss the influence of the Victorian financier who had a huge impact on the area many years before it became the new town we know today.
In particular, Sir Herbert Leon left his fingerprints all over the history of Bletchley and its eponymous codebreaking centre, Bletchley Park.
Credited as being the main figure behind the development of Bletchley Park, Sir Herbert eventually became an MP for Buckingham.
Sir Herbert was born on February 11, 1850. The son of a wealthy stockbroker, Sir Herbert joined the family business in his early twenties and first married in 1873.
However, his first wife died two years later, leaving two young children in George, who was named after Sir Herbert’s father, and daughter Kitty.
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In 1878 he remarried and soon after purchased Bletchley Park, and work began to develop the estate.
According to MK Heritage, the estate’s red brick farmhouse was considerably enlarged over the following years and Sir Herbert made Bletchley Park his family’s main home.
Sir Herbert became increasingly interested in politics and the local community, and was elected MP for Buckingham in a by-election in 1891 as a member of the Liberal Party.
This was a time when the Buckingham ward included Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford and the election took place after his predecessor, Sir Edmund Verney, was expelled from the House of Commons.
Sir Herbert was re-elected a year later, but lost his seat in 1895. He had one more unsuccessful shot at re-election when he stood in Staffordshire.
He would continue to serve the community in Bletchley as he became High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1909, and was made a baronet in the 1911 Coronation honours.
Sir Herbert donated a number of plots of land for public use, including a park for the area’s young people.
He died aged 76 on July 23, 1926 and now, Sir Herbert’s legacy is honoured by way of a road in Bletchley named after him, as well as a park and a school.
Leon Avenue is found coming off Queensway, the town’s High Street, while the Leon School and Sports College took its name from him when it was built in 1890.
It became Leon Secondary School in the 1960s and now has an even more obvious nod in its current title of Sir Herbert Leon Academy, which it took in 2012.
Sir Herbert gave what is now the Leon Recreation Ground near Queensway - land he specifically demanded be made a public park for the area’s young people.
Wherever you look in Bletchley, it’s clear that Sir Herbert left an impact on the community - and that impact continues to benefit those who live in the area even now.
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