Leatham attended Mr Tatum's academy in Leeds, but he was apprenticed to his father's bank by the age of about 15.

He had a number of well argued points which he detailed in letters to the chairman of the relevant committee, Charles Wood.

He believed that they were making a big mistake in not including in the considerations of the British economy the currency of Bill of Exchange.

Leatham argued that these made up a substantial part of the economy which he estimated to be of the size of £100 million.

[4] Leatham is recorded in a painting of the 1840 Anti Slavery conference with hundreds of delegates from around the world together with other significant bankers like George Head Head, Samuel Gurney and George William Alexander and notable business people like John Ellis and Tapper Cadbury.