Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet

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

Sir John Leslie
Lord Lieutenant of Monaghan
In office
1921–1922
Preceded byThe Lord Rossmore
High Sheriff of Monaghan
In office
1905–1905
Preceded byAnketell Moutray
Succeeded byJohn Clements Waterhouse Madden
Personal details
Born(1857-08-07)7 August 1857
Kensington, London, England
Died25 January 1944(1944-01-25) (aged 86)
Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland
Spouse
Leonie Blanche Jerome
(m. 1884; died 1943)
RelationsGeorge Dawson-Damer (grandfather)
Charles Powell Leslie (uncle)
Children5
Parent(s)Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet
Lady Constance Dawson-Damer
ResidenceCastle Leslie
Alma materEton College
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
RankColonel
UnitRoyal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Royal Irish Fusiliers
Battles/wars

Early life

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ a b c "COL. SIR JOHN LESLIE; Irish Baronet, 86, Wed Leonie Jerome, Aunt of Churchill" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 January 1944.
  2. ^ a b c Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
  3. ^ "No. 24295". The London Gazette. 18 February 1876. p. 760.
  4. ^ Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1842). A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Edward Churton. p. 590.
  5. ^ "No. 27429". The London Gazette. 29 April 1902. p. 2865.
  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Dooley, Terence (2001). The Decline of the Big House in Ireland. Wolfound Press Ltd. ISBN 0-86327-850-7.
  9. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "SIR SHANE LESLIE, 89, BRITISH AUTHOR, DIES" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 August 1971.
  11. ^ a b c "Sir John Leslie, Bt – obituary". The Telegraph. 20 April 2016.
  12. ^ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. 1973. p. 1742.
  13. ^ Work Out English GCSE KS4. Macmillan International Higher Education. 2016. p. 73. ISBN 9781349138364.
  14. ^ Leslie, Lionel (1961), One Man's World. Pall Mall Press, London.
  15. ^ "Second world war veteran Sir John Leslie dies aged 99". The Irish Times. 18 April 2016.
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Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baronet
(of Glaslough)
1916–1944
Succeeded by