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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] Early lifeLeslie 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] CareerLeslie 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 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] DescendantsThrough 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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