Benjamin Williams Leader (1831 - 1923) Oil on canvas, signed lower left, measures 20 x 24 inches and 25.5 x 34 inches. Benjamin Williams Leader RA (12 March 1831 - 22 March 1923) was an English landscape painter. Leader was born in Worcester as Benjamin Leader Williams, the son, and first child of eleven children, of notable civil engineer Edward Leader Williams (1802-79) and Sarah Whiting (1801-88). His father was described as a "non conformist dissenter" and his mother was a Quaker - their marriage in an Anglican church resulted in them being disowned by the Society of Friends.Leader's father was a keen amateur artist - a friend of John Constable - and Benjamin would often accompany him on sketching trips along the banks of the River Severn. His brother, also Edward Leader Williams, later became a notable civil engineer who was knighted for his work, and is now mainly remembered for designing Manchester Ship Canal - which was to become the theme of Leader's largest painting. The family eventually came to reside at "Diglis House" - now a hotel.

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