Spencer Leeson (1892-1956) was a Scholar of Winchester College, 1905-1911; Scholar of New College, Oxford, 1911-1914; Assistant Master at Winchester, 1924-1927; Headmaster of Merchant Taylors’ School, 1927-1935; Headmaster of Winchester, 1935-1946; Bishop of Peterborough, 1949-1956.

Leeson’s family disliked this portrait. It was removed from School in 1993 or 1994 and replaced with Ao75, a modern copy of the portrait of Leeson by Oswald Birley at Merchant Taylor’s School.

Literature: ‘Spencer Leeson’, The Trusty Servant, no. 77 (June 1994), pp. 8, 16; W.F. Oakeshott, revised by R.D.H. Custance, ‘Leeson, Spencer Stottesbury Gwatkin, (1892–1956)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)

Provenance: Commissioned by Winchester College (cost £668-17-10, of which £553-10 paid to the artist)

Location: Headmaster’s Staircase