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Sir Francis Ley, 1st Baronet (3 January 1846 – 27 January 1916) was an English industrialist. He founded Ley's Malleable Castings Vulcan Ironworks in Derby.〔 He (re-)introduced baseball into the United Kingdom with the Derby County Baseball Club〔(Grounds for concern! Newcastle join the KitKat Crescent and Pizza Hut Park in the 'dodgy stadium names' hall of shame ), Laura Williamson, 5 November 2009, Daily Mail, accessed May 2010〕 and owned Ley's Baseball Ground from 1890 to 1924, which was home to Derby County Football Club. In 1905, Ley was created a Baronet, of Epperstone Manor〔 and, in the same year, served as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire.〔 ==Biography== Francis Ley was born on 3 January 1846 in Winshill which at the time was in south-west Derbyshire (it's now in Staffordshire). He was the only son of George Phillips Ley〔(The Register Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1916 ), Hesperides, p.155, accessed May 2010〕 and Sarah (born Potts).〔Tony Mason, ‘Ley, Sir Francis, first baronet (1846–1916)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (accessed 4 May 2010 )〕 He started work at Andrew Handyside & Co. as a draughtsman and learnt about engineering. At the age of 28 he established a malleable iron castings foundry on Osmaston Road, Derby in 1874.〔(Leys Malleable Castings ), Graces Guide, accessed May 2010〕 The business became the Ley's Malleable Castings Company Ltd. The Vulcan Iron Works at Osmaston Road occupied an 11-acre site by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway.〔 In the ''London Gazette'' of 14 April 1876 Ley was granted a patent for "improvements in apparatus for locking and fastening nuts on fish plate and other bolts". In 1878 he was sued for patent infringement by an American drive chain belt company; the case was settled and Ley's company was awarded sole manufacturing rights. By the 1880s Ley was demolishing his old works and rebuilding on a grander scale. The new factory was to include expensive sporting facilities. Ley was never sporting himself but he was an enthusiast for sport and sat on the board of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.〔 The Vulcan iron foundry was closed and demolished in 1986. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Francis Ley」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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