Sir_John_Leslie,_2nd_Bt.

Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet

Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet

Anglo-Irish soldier and baronet

For other people named John Leslie, see John Leslie (disambiguation).

Colonel Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet, CBE, JP, DL (7 August 1857 – 25 January 1944) was a British Army officer and landowner.[1]

Quick Facts Lord Lieutenant of Monaghan, Preceded by ...

Early life

Leslie was born in London on 7 August 1857.[2] He was the only son of Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet, and Lady Constance Wilhelmina Frances Dawson-Damer, sister of the 4th Earl of Portarlington. His father was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Monaghan from 1871 to 1880 and was created a baronet in 1876.[3][4] After his father's death in January 1916, Leslie succeeded his father as the 2nd Baronet Leslie, of Glaslough. He was educated at Eton.[2]

Career

Leslie was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, with whom he served as a lieutenant at the Battle of Tel el Kebir in 1882, distinguishing himself under fire. After fighting in South Africa during the Second Boer War in 1900,[1] he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers in April 1902,[5] and later became honorary colonel of the battalion.[6] In 1915, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 12th Reserve Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.[7]

He served as High Sheriff of Monaghan in 1905 and was also a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county.[7] The Leslies were opposed to the Home Rule movement. Leslie led the Monaghan Militia in the 1890s and he allowed the Ulster Volunteers drill at the demesne in 1914.[8] A loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in 1966. It claims to be a direct descendant of the older organisation and uses the same logo, but there are no organisational links between the two.

Personal life

Castle Leslie

On 2 October 1884 in New York City, with disapproval from both families, Leslie married Leonie Blanche Jerome (1859–1943), daughter of the wealthy American financier Leonard Jerome and Clarissa (née Hall) Jerome.[9] Leonie's sister was Jennie, wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and mother of Winston Churchill.[9] Leslie and his wife had four children:[2]

The Leslie family were one of the largest land-owning families in the late 19th century. Their holdings comprised 70,000 acres (280 km2) in counties Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Meath and Tyrone.[8] In his second autobiographical book, Lionel recounted various anecdotes about his immediate family and their home at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan.[14]

Sir John Leslie died in Glaslough, County Monaghan in Ireland on 25 January 1944.[1]

Descendants

Through his eldest son,[10] he was the grandfather of Anita Theodosia Moira Rodzianko King (1914–1985), a novelist who married Commander Bill King; Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet (1916–2016), popularly known as Sir Jack Leslie, who never married;[11] and Desmond Arthur Leslie (1921–2001), a pilot and film maker.[15]

References

  1. [1]
    "COL. SIR JOHN LESLIE; Irish Baronet, 86, Wed Leonie Jerome, Aunt of Churchill" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 January 1944.
  2. [2]
    Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
  3. [3]
    "No. 24295". The London Gazette. 18 February 1876. p. 760.
  4. [4]
    Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1842). A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Edward Churton. p. 590.
  5. [5]
    "No. 27429". The London Gazette. 29 April 1902. p. 2865.
  6. [6]
    Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et Raineval (1994). The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: Being a Complete Table of All the Descendants Now Living of Edward III, King of England. The Clarence volume. Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-8063-1432-7.
  7. [7]
    Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, The Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1914. p. 1204.
  8. [8]
    Dooley, Terence (2001). The Decline of the Big House in Ireland. Wolfound Press Ltd. ISBN 0-86327-850-7.
  9. [9]
    "MISS LEONIE JEROME MARRIED TO A LIEUTENANT IN THE GRENADIER GUARDS AND THE SON OF A PEER" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 October 1884.
  10. [10]
    "SIR SHANE LESLIE, 89, BRITISH AUTHOR, DIES" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 August 1971.
  11. [11]
    "Sir John Leslie, Bt – obituary". The Telegraph. 20 April 2016.
  12. [12]
    Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. 1973. p. 1742.
  13. [13]
    Work Out English GCSE KS4. Macmillan International Higher Education. 2016. p. 73. ISBN 9781349138364.
  14. [14]
    Leslie, Lionel (1961), One Man's World. Pall Mall Press, London.
  15. [15]
    "Second world war veteran Sir John Leslie dies aged 99". The Irish Times. 18 April 2016.
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