| Sir John Leslie | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | Bt CBE JP DL |
| Office: | Lord Lieutenant of Monaghan |
| Term Start: | 1921 |
| Term End: | 1922 |
| Predecessor: | The Lord Rossmore |
| Office1: | High Sheriff of Monaghan |
| Term Start1: | 1905 |
| Term End1: | 1905 |
| Predecessor1: | Anketell Moutray |
| Successor1: | John Clements Waterhouse Madden |
| Birth Date: | 1857 8, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Kensington, London, England |
| Death Place: | Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland |
| Residence: | Castle Leslie |
| Alma Mater: | Eton College |
| Parents: | Sir John Leslie, 1st Baronet Lady Constance Dawson-Damer |
| Children: | 5 |
| Relations: | George Dawson-Damer (grandfather) Charles Powell Leslie (uncle) |
| Honorific Prefix: | Colonel |
| Unit: | Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Royal Irish Fusiliers |
| Rank: | Colonel |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
Colonel Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet, (7 August 1857 – 25 January 1944) was a British Army officer and landowner.
Leslie was born in London on 7 August 1857.[1] 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.[2] After his father's death in January 1916, Leslie succeeded his father as the 2nd Baronet Leslie, of Glaslough. He was educated at Eton.
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, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers in April 1902, and later became honorary colonel of the battalion.[3] In 1915, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 12th Reserve Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
He served as High Sheriff of Monaghan in 1905 and was also a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county.[4] 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. 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.
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.[5] Leonie's sister was Jennie, wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and mother of Winston Churchill.[5] Leslie and his wife had four children:[1]
The Leslie family were one of the largest land-owning families in the late 19th century. Their holdings comprised 70000acres in counties Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Meath and Tyrone.[9] In his second autobiographical book, Lionel recounted various anecdotes about his immediate family and their home at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan.[10]
Sir John Leslie died in Glaslough, County Monaghan in Ireland on 25 January 1944.[11]
Through his eldest son,[6] 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;[12] and Desmond Arthur Leslie (1921–2001), a pilot and film maker.[13]
Being a Complete Table of All the Descendants Now Living of Edward III, King of England. The Clarence volume
. 1994 . Genealogical Publishing Co. . 978-0-8063-1432-7 . 140.