Modern/Post-War Photos

Captin Sir John Leslie, RIP.

Private author.

Captain Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet Leslie, of Castle Leslie, County Monaghan, one of Ireland's last surviving WW2 veterans, died on 18 April, 2016, aged 99. He was a cousin of Winston Churchill, and had a bewildering range of influential relatives. Even by the standards of the Anglo-Irish gentry, the Leslies of Castle Leslie were a rather odd lot. The Irish branch of a Scottish gentry family claiming descent from Attila the Hun (they are descended from a Hungarian nobleman who was a favourite of Margaret of Scotland back when), they also - unusually - survived the great Irish land reform of the late-19th century, mainly as a result of canny investments on a broad front. Clan Leslie remains, overall, a seriously wealthy "firm". Graduating from Cambridge at age 21, young Jack was /commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1937. This eventually resulted in Captain Jack commanding a platoon of Guards involved in defending Boulogne-Sur-Mer, holding up superior German forces for some two hours. Leslie himself described the experience as terrifying. Eventually forced to surrender, he and his soldiers spent the rest of the war in what (by his account) were particularly uncomfortable PoW camps in Bavaria. After the war, he reverted to civilian life, and led a wandering existence between Europe and the US, spending a considerable period living in his restored house at Rome. He returned to Ireland on the death of his uncle, the Third Baronet. He assisted in the transformation of the family seat from being run as a sort of guest house by a niece into one of Ireland's most luxurious country house hotel. At age 80, Sir Jack discovered what he termed "boom boom music" - not Wagner, but disco/dance music. He subsequently became a regular clubber around the Irish Border counties, and celebrated his 85th birthday with a clubbing trip to Ibiza. In December, 2015, Sir John was inducted into the Legion d'Honneur in recognition of his war service to the French Republic. Ar dheis Dé a Anam Dílis. JR. By the way - the headgear worn here appears to consist of an old-fashioned Irish Army beret, adorned with a tail feather from one of Castle Leslie's peacocks. He was a bit eccentric, after all ... JR.