Leslie Lever, Baron Lever

The Lord Lever
Member of Parliament
for Manchester Ardwick
In office
23 February 1950 – 18 June 1970
Preceded byJoseph Henderson
Succeeded byGerald Kaufman
Lord Mayor of Manchester
In office
1957–1958
Preceded byHarry Sharp
Succeeded byJames Edward Fitzsimons
Member of Manchester City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
1932
Personal details
BornLeslie Maurice Lever
(1905-04-29)29 April 1905
Manchester, England
Died26 July 1977(1977-07-26) (aged 72)
Manchester, England
PartyLabour
SpouseRay Rosalia Levene
EducationManchester Grammar School University of Leeds
ProfessionSolicitor

Leslie Maurice Lever, Baron Lever, GCSG (29 April 1905 – 26 July 1977) was a British Labour politician. He was Member of Parliament for Manchester Ardwick from 1950 to 1970 A member of one of Manchester's most prominent Jewish political families his younger brother Harold Lever sat for the neighbouring Cheetham/Exchange seat, he built his public career on decades of unpaid legal work for the city's poor before entering the Commons

He served as Lord Mayor of Manchester (1957–58) and was knighted in 1970 for his philanthropic and public work. He was made a life peer as Baron Lever of Ardwick in the city of Manchester, in 1975. Made a peer five years after retiring from the Commons.

He was knighted by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, as well as by the Queen in 1970 for his philanthropic work. He died in Manchester in 1977, aged 72.

Early life and education

Lever was born on 29 April 1905, the son of Bernard Lever. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School before reading law at Leeds University. His younger sister and three younger brothers all trained as lawyers, and one of them, Harold Lever, went on to become a Labour MP and later Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Jewish communal life

Within the Jewish community, Lever served for some years as President of the Manchester and Salford Jewish Representative Council and as a delegate to the Board of Deputies of British Jews. He was a prominent supporter of the King David Schools and the Manchester Jewish Blind Society, particularly in dealing with public authorities on their behalf, and in his synagogue he was remembered for reciting the Book of Jonah each year on the Day of Atonement.

Arms

Coat of arms of Leslie Lever, Baron Lever
Coronet
Coronet of a Baron
Crest
Within a Mural Crown Gules, masoned Or, a Globe thereon a Pair of Keys addorsed wards outwards Or, rising between the Bows thereof a Sun Gules.
Escutcheon
Gules, within an Orle of Bees volant proper, a Pair of Scales between three Escutcheons two and one Or, each charged with a Rose Gules, barbed and seeded proper.
Supporters
Dexter: a Lion sejant Or, mane and tail tuft Sable, gorged with a Collar Gules, charged with Pine Cones proper.

Sinister: a Bear sejant proper, gorged with a Collar Gules, charged with Pine Cones proper.

References

  1. ↑ "Mr Leslie Lever (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Leslie Wagner on The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History Edited by William D. Rubinstein, Michael A. Jolles, and Hilary L. Rubinstein | Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs". Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  3. 1 2 "No. 45239". The London Gazette. 27 November 1970. p. 13037.
  4. ↑ "The London Gazette". The Gazette. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Times, Special to The New York (28 May 1960). "POPE JOHN HONORS JEW; Briton Gets Award for His Aid to Roman Catholics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  6. ↑ Reporter, Universe (5 August 1977). "Lord Lever, a Jew who fought our battles". The Universe. p. 21.
  7. ↑ "Members after 1832". membersafter1832.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 1 September 2026.
  8. 1 2 Dobkin, Monty (1986). Tales of Manchester Jewry and Manchester in the Thirties (1st ed.). Neil Richardson. p. 28–29. ISBN 9781852160715.