Henry Leask Explained

Sir Henry Leask
Birth Date:30 June 1913
Death Date:10 January 2004 (aged 90)
Birth Place:Hugesovka, Russian Empire[1]
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Serviceyears:1936–1972
Servicenumber:62419
Rank:Lieutenant General
Unit:Royal Scots Fusiliers
Commands:8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
1st Battalion, London Scottish
1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment
52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division
Scottish Command
Battles:World War II
Awards:Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Lowther Ewart Clark Leask KCB DSO OBE (30 June 1913 – 10 January 2004) was a senior British Army officer who served in World War II and held high command during the 1960s.

Military career

Henry Leask was commissioned into the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1936.[2]

He served in the Second World War becoming commanding officer of 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1944.[2] He won the DSO for on a three-mile dash to capture two bridges over the River Po at San Patrizio.[3]

After the War, in 1946, he was appointed commanding officer of 1st London Scottish and from 1947 he was in Military Operations Directorate at the War Office.[2] He then became commanding officer of 1st Parachute Regiment in 1952.[2] He was appointed Assistant Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War in 1955 and then from 1957 he was Commandant of the Tactical Wing of the School of Infantry.[2] In 1962, he became Deputy Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War.[2]

He was appointed General Officer Commanding 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division in 1964, and Director of Army Training at the Ministry of Defence in 1966.[2] He became General Officer Commanding Scottish Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1969; he retired in 1972.[2]

Family

In 1940, he married Zoe de Camborne Paynter and together they went on to have one son and two daughters.[3] Their son Anthony (b.1943) followed his father into the services, joining the Scots Guards and rising to the rank of Major-General, before becoming a military historian.[4]

References

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lt-Gen Sir Henry Leask. 23 January 2004. The Telegraph.
  2. Web site: Leaske, Henry. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. https://web.archive.org/web/20120905044406/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/LEASK.shtml. 30 May 2020. 5 September 2012.
  3. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1000943.ece Obituary: Lt Gen Sir Henry Leask
  4. Web site: 'PUTTY' - AN UNKNOWN SCOTS GUARDSMAN INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY LEASK . Guards Magazine . 18 September 2022.