Introduction to the Leslie Papers Adobe

INTRODUCTION

LESLIE PAPERS

November 2007

Leslie Papers (MIC606, T3827)

Table of Contents

Summary ...... 4 Family history...... 5 Glaslough in the Kingdom of Oriel ...... 6 The early Leslies...... 7 The Rev. Dr Charles Leslie ('the Nonjuror') ...... 8 Charles Powell Leslie I (1731-1800) ...... 9 Charles Powell Leslie II (1769-1831) ...... 10 The Co. Monaghan election of 1826...... 11 Charles Powell Leslie III (1821-1871) ...... 12 The Leslie estates...... 13 Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt (1822-1916)...... 17 Artistic and high society life in London...... 18 The new Castle Leslie ...... 19 Co. Monaghan elections ...... 20 Latter years...... 21 Lady Constance Leslie (1836-1925) ...... 22 Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt (1857-1944), and the Jerome connection ...... 23 Attempts at economy and modernisation...... 24 Leonie, Lady Leslie...... 25 A royal connection ...... 26 Hard and changed times...... 27 The Second World War and Castle Leslie ...... 28 Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt (1885-1971)...... 29 Home Rule and the First World War ...... 30 Early and mainly Catholic writings ...... 31 A versatile and prolific writer...... 32 Family life...... 33 Sir Shane's dispersed and incomplete archive ...... 34

Other gaps in the Castle Leslie archive ...... 35 The late Anita Leslie as a possible source...... 36 The Castle Leslie archive...... 37 A. Title deeds and related legal case papers...... 38 B. Leases and related legal case papers...... 39 C. Wills and settlements ...... 40 D. Rentals and miscellaneous volumes ...... 41 E. Vouchers ...... 42 F. Formal documents...... 43 G. Maps, plans and surveys ...... 44 H. Family and local history...... 45 J. Charles Powell Leslie I, II and III (1767-1871) ...... 46 Charles Powell Leslie II (1769-1831) ...... 47 The Monaghan Militia ...... 48 Politics and elections ...... 49 Charles Powell Leslie III (1821-1871) ...... 50 Lady Constance Leslie (1836-1925) and Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt (1822-1916) ...... 51 Lady Constance Leslie's ancestry...... 53 Lady Constance's own papers...... 54 The Co. Monaghan election of 1880...... 55 Courtship and the Covenant ...... 56 Miscellaneous family correspondence ...... 57 Mainly political correspondence...... 58 Sir Shane's 'Grangerising' of Lady Constance...... 59 L. Leonie Leslie, Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt, Moreton Frewen and the Jerome connection ...... 60 Royal associations...... 61 Very miscellaneous family letters...... 62 Things I Can Tell...... 63 'Mortal ruin' ...... 64 M. Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt, and his successive wives, Marjorie and Iris...... 65 Letters to Sir Shane from his mother and grandmother ...... 66 Letters from Seymour Leslie...... 67 Correspondence between Sir Shane and Marjorie, Lady Leslie ...... 68

Papers of Marjorie, Lady Leslie ...... 69 Iris Carola, Lady Leslie ...... 70 Correspondence with the Frewens ...... 71 Miscellaneous correspondence ...... 72 N. Norman Leslie ...... 73 O. Newspaper cuttings ...... 75 P. Photographs ...... 76 Q. Sir Shane Leslie's autograph and letter books...... 77 R. Sir Shane Leslie's books and writings ...... 78 S. Sir John Leslie, 4th Bt...... 80 Leslie papers held elsewhere ...... 81

Leslie Papers

Summary

The archive at Castle Leslie, Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, amounts to 128 PRONI boxes, plus several outsize albums, numerous rolled maps and the boxed patent of 1876 [F/2] creating the Leslie baronetcy. While the PRONI list and arrangement covers the entire archive, only a tiny fraction has in fact been copied by and is available in PRONI (MIC606 and T3827).

The material copied by PRONI is as follows: letters and papers, 1796-1819, of Charles Powell Leslie II as Colonel of the Monaghan Militia; political - mainly Co. Monaghan election – correspondence of Charles Leslie II, 1801-1831; correspondence of and between 'Minnie' Seymour and her husband, George Dawson Damer, 1820-1848; letters to their daughter, Lady Constance Dawson Damer, afterwards the wife of Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt, 1854-1855, from her brother, Seymour, writing from the Crimea; letters and newspaper cuttings of Charles Powell Leslie III, 1857-1866, about Co. Monaghan elections, election violence in 1865, etc; letters to John Leslie, later Sir John, 1st Bt, 1871, about his (successful) candidature for the Co. Monaghan by-election occasioned by the death of C.P. Leslie III; letters to Lady Constance from Sir John, March-April 1880, about his defeat at the Co. Monaghan election; correspondence and printed matter of Sir John, October-December 1883, about the Rosslea incident; letters to Lady Constance from the Leslies' second daughter, 'Consie', Lady Hope, 1890-1891, describing Viceregal life in India; correspondence, 1894-1958, between Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt, and his parents, grandparents, wife (Marjorie) and siblings; correspondence, 1924-1972, between Sir Shane and Marjorie Leslie, on the one hand, and their children, Anita, John and Desmond, on the other (including letters to Anita from the Leslies' cousin, Clare Sheridan); and diaries of Marjorie Leslie, 1901-1934 (with many gaps) and her own 'Grangerised' copies of her book, Girlhood in the Pacific, 1942.

The rest – and the vast majority of - the archive is held in the National Library of Ireland.

Leslie Papers

Family history

Castle Leslie is situated in that part of Co. Monaghan which borders both Tyrone and Armagh, and there is a natural and historical link-up – until recently sundered by road-cratering – between and among Glaslough, Caledon and Tynan, all of them big houses as well as villages, and merely fields apart. The main component of the Leslie estate was in the same part of Co. Monaghan (the barony of Trough), over spilling into Tyrone. The family's subsidiary estate at Pettigo was even more borderline, since the village of Pettigo is cut in half by the Donegal-Fermanagh border, now the Border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, and a significant part of the Castle Leslie Leslie estate was in Co. Fermanagh.

The Leslie family themselves straddle a number of borders, not to say 'great divides'. Unusually among the 'Ascendancy' landowning class of 18th century Ireland, they number among their ancestors a Nonjuror and Jacobite, who moreover published in 1692 a refutation of that biblical text of the Ascendancy, Archbishop King's State of the Protestants of Ireland under the late King James's Government. Still more quaintly, they derived during the Penal Era a significant proportion of their income from the fees and dues paid by the 4,000-5,000 Roman Catholic pilgrims who annually visited the prohibited place of pilgrimage on the Leslies' Pettigo estate, St Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg. In the 19th century they were closely connected with, and possibly descended from, Mrs Fitzherbert, that staunch English Catholic, who defended the faith in spite of the importunities of George IV. And they produced in this century the highly colourful Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt, Catholic convert, Irish Nationalist and Irish speaker, who ran the future first Governor of Northern Ireland close at a parliamentary election for Derry City in 1910.

The Leslie Archive reflects most of these dichotomies. The archive is important, too, because the Leslies were not only major landowners, MPs for Co. Monaghan, Colonels of its Militia, etc, but were also fairly 'big' in English high society, the arts, etc. Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt (1822-1916), was a significant painter and moved in Pre- Raphaelite circles. His wife, Lady Constance, brought into the family the already mentioned 'royal' connections of an illegitimate kind through George IV's 'marriage' with Mrs Fitzherbert. Their son, Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt (1857-1944), married a sister of Lady Randolph Churchill in 1884, through which connection the Leslies were cousins of Winston Churchill. This same Lady Leslie was the chére amie of another 'royal', Queen Victoria's favourite son, the Duke of Connaught. The next baronet, Sir Shane, 3rd Bt (1885-1971), was among many other things a well-known writer; and one of his children, Anita, was a noted writer as well. All in all, this is a family and archive of more than usual interest.

Leslie Papers

Glaslough in the Kingdom of Oriel

The following account of the family is taken from the late Seymour Leslie's Of Glaslough in the Kingdom of Oriel ... (Glaslough, 1913) and The Jerome Connexion (London, 1964), principally the former:

'... The district [comprising the barony of Trough was] ... part of the great MacMahon territory until 1608, when it was confiscated and granted to Sir Thomas Ridgeway, Knt - this being the origin of the Glaslough estate. Sir Thomas built Glaslough Castle. It had a square tower round which was subsequently built the Old House or "Castle- Lesley" which was pulled down in 1877. The village was built and the neighbourhood became prosperous; the Anketell and Johnston families had earlier arrived from England; the Maxwells occupied Falkland, and in 1661 Favour Royal [Co. Tyrone] was built. In 1640 Glaslough was mortgaged to the widowed Lady Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle. The district was affected by the long war which began in 1641 ..., [when] Glaslough Castle ... [was] taken ... by Turlough O'Neill, who retired however the next day to his own castle of Ceanard, now Caledon. ...

Leslie Papers

The early Leslies

On May 22nd, 1665, Glaslough Castle and demesne together with "the territory of Upper Trough", was sold by the Ridgeway trustees for a considerable sum to the Bishop of Clogher, John Leslie [see A/1 and K/1/11], then in his 95th year. ... For a man of his great age his energy was amazing. He strengthened and extended the castle, moved the old parish church from Donagh to a new site near his residence, and built the present church of St Salvator. His books were brought from the palace he had built at Raphoe, and formed the nucleus of the present library. The high road running through the demesne was rebuilt, and the beautiful single arch stone bridge (in the Pinetum) was finished in 1670. The Bishop continued to hold his visitations in various parts of the diocese to the very end of his life; we read of one of these being held "in oratorio de Donagh, alias Castle-Lesley", in 1669. He died at Glaslough, 8 September 1671, aged 100 years, all but five weeks, leaving two sons, of whom John the elder, then twenty-six year of age, succeeded to the estate. The Bishop also left a widow, Catherine Conyngham, who was fifty-two years younger than her husband; she survived until 1693. ...

Little is known of young John Leslie; he became Dean of Dromore in 1681, and appears to have lived quietly at Glaslough with his younger brother, Charles. He married, in 1698, a Miss Hamilton, of Caledon, but having no children, the estate passed afterwards to Charles. ... In 1720, he carried out alterations to the house, [which] probably consisted in the insertion of square windows in the old [Ridgeway] castle. About a century ago [ie c.1810] the two side gables shown in ... [an] engraving were added, together with an extension at the back which was used as a drawing-room [see P/5A]. [Apart from this], "Castle-Lesley" in 1720 was the same as the house pulled down in 1877. In 1721, John died, and by the directions of his will was buried in Glaslough Church [St Salvator].

Leslie Papers

The Rev. Dr Charles Leslie ('the Nonjuror')

Charles, "one of the most illustrious of the Irish clergy" [see H/1-2], succeeded him; but being then seventy-one years of age, he only enjoyed the estate for a few months, dying the next year. ...' '... Charles Leslie, "the Nonjuror", ... [was] a theologian in a fury ... Over thirteen pages of the British Museum library catalogue are devoted to his unreadable works and violent pamphlets, with such titles as A Short and Easie Method with the Deists, The Short and Easie Method with the Jews, The Snake in the Grass, Now or Never, The Finishing Stroke, etc. He was too much even for Dr Johnson who confessed that "he was a reasoner not to be reasoned against". As a Nonjuror, that is a Protestant divine refusing to recognize England's "Glorious Revolution", he had to flee to the Jacobite Court of the Pretender of St Germain, where in a Catholic Milieu he must have been a very odd fish indeed. With the passage of years he was forgiven and allowed by George I to return to Castle Leslie, His Majesty remarking kindly that "the old man should come home and die in peace". ...'

'... Charles left three children, Robert, Henry, and "Vinegar Jane". Henry was colonel in the army, and probably served under Lord Peterborough, and lived long in Spain. He and his brother were great friends of Dean Swift, who nicknamed Henry the "Spaniard". [Henry was later 'of Markethill', Co. Armagh. His significance in family, estate and archival terms is that he was the recipient of the Pettigo estate, which had been in family possession since pre-1666, under the terms of a statement of 1713. He succeeded to it on the death of Charles Leslie in 1722, and died, childless, in 1743. On the death of his widow, c.1765, it reverted to the main branch of the family, then represented by Charles Powell Leslie I. This helps to explain the absence of pre-1765 Pettigo documentation from the archive at Castle Leslie.] ...

Of Robert Leslie, who succeeded his father, little is known; he does not seem to have effected any changes or taken an active interest in the place [and was residing at Islandbridge, Dublin, at the time of his death in 1743]. He married, in 1730, a Miss Frances Rogerson, daughter of ... [the] Chief Justice of the Irish King's Bench. He had a daughter, Annabella, and a son, Charles Powell Leslie. The name Powell had some connection with certain property, which however has since passed out of the family. ...

Leslie Papers

Charles Powell Leslie I (1731-1800)

In 1743, Robert's son, Charles (grandfather of the ... [first] Sir John), succeeded to the estate; then but a boy of twelve, he was destined to become a man of most remarkable commonsense and large, practical ideas [see J/1]. When he came of age in 1752, he devoted himself to the much required improvement of farming in the district, which was then, as indeed all over Ireland, in a very backward state ... . In 1765, he married Prudence Penelope, daughter of ... [the 1st Viscount] Dungannon; her sister, Anne, shortly after married Lord Mornington, and in 1769 became mother of the great Duke of Wellington.

Charles Leslie was elected M.P. for Hillsborough, Co. Down, in 1771, and henceforward lived much in Dublin ... . From 1776 to 1783, when he was elected M.P. for Co. Monaghan, Charles was not in parliament, and so lived at Glaslough a great deal ..., [where he] threw himself eagerly ... [into the Volunteer movement and] became Colonel of the Trough Volunteers ... . His election address, dated 1783 from Glaslough, ... is full of practical Irish sentiments; e.g., "I desire a more equal representation of the people, and a tax upon our Absentees". ... In 1790, and again in 1797, Charles was re-elected for the county. In the former year he had purchased 2 St Stephen's Green North - a house built in 1765, and in that part of the square known as the "Beaux' Walk". ... [Charles] died with the Irish Parliament he had honourably fought to maintain, before the close of 1800. ...

In 1785, he married his second wife, Mary Anne Tench. Their son, Edward, afterwards entered holy orders, and died in 1865; this line being now extinct. ...

By his first wife he had two sons; the younger, John, became Bishop of Dromore in 1812, and subsequently of Elphin [in 1820]; while the elder, Charles Powell II, succeeded to the estate, and ... [in due course] was returned in his father's stead as M.P. for the county, and the town house in Dublin exchanged for one in London. ...'

Leslie Papers

Charles Powell Leslie II (1769-1831)

Charles Powell II [see J/2-7] was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and married, in 1791, Anne, daughter and co-heiress of the Rev. Dudley Charles Ryder of Merrion Square, Dublin, Rector of Streamstown, Co. Leitrim. He served as sheriff of Co. Monaghan in 1788, Colonel of the Monaghan Militia, 1797-1831, and Captain of the Glaslough Yeoman Infantry from 1805, and was appointed Governor of Co. Monaghan in 1802. His parliamentary career was considerably assisted by his relationship, via his mother, to the future Duke of Wellington (Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1807-1809), to Wellington's brother, William Wellesley Pole (Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1809-1812) and to their eldest brother, the Marquess Wellesley (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1822-1827), and by his relationship, via his wife, to the Ryder brothers, Dudley, 1st Earl of Harrowby (a member of the Cabinet for most of the period 1804-1827) and Richard (Home Secretary, 1809-1812).

According to P.J. Jupp's short parliamentary biography of Leslie, published in R.G. Thorne (ed.), The History of Parliament ..., 1790-1820 (London, 1986) iv, pp 416-417, Leslie had '... hoped to succeed his father [as M.P. for Co. Monaghan] ... in July 1800 ... . He was disappointed then, but came in unopposed when his rival [Warner William], Westenra, succeeded to the peerage [as 2nd Lord Rossmore] a year later. ...' One of Leslie's main objects as an M.P. '... was preferment for his clerical brother, John. ... Leslie disappointed the Castle by his failure to support the return of ... [Lord Rossmore's brother, Colonel Henry] Westenra as his colleague in the Monaghan by-election in November 1807; his brother had to be satisfied with the deanery of Cork, which he was not, as he now had two livings "at the extreme ends of the kingdom". ... [Leslie] was in the majority against Catholic relief, 1 June 1811, and in the likeminded minority of 22 June 1812. The secession from government of his cousin, Lord Wellesley, ... made no obvious difference to Leslie's conduct ..., [doubtless because of] his brother's preferment to the bishopric of Dromore [in 1812, though he was torn and perplexed by conflicting claims on his allegiance until William Wellesley Pole rejoined the government in 1814]. ...' From then on, he continued in general to support the government, in spite of its failure/refusal to translate his brother to the bishopric of Clogher – a point of great personal importance to Leslie because he held his Pettigo estate in Cos Donegal and Fermanagh under that see, and the lease was shortly due to expire.

Leslie Papers

The Co. Monaghan election of 1826

Leslie sat uninterruptedly for Co. Monaghan from 1801 until the celebrated and bitterly contested general election of 1826, when Catholic Emancipation, to which he was opposed, was the dominant issue. The outcome of the election was that, though Leslie's running-mate, Evelyn John Shirley of Lough Fea, Carrickmacross, was successful, Leslie was defeated by Lord Rossmore's son, Henry Robert Westenra (later 3rd Lord Rossmore). An election petition ensued, in which Leslie sought to prove that undue 'priestly influence' had been brought to bear on Westenra's behalf, but the petition was either unsuccessful or withdrawn. Clearly, Leslie was by this stage anxious to extricate himself honourably from Co. Monaghan elections, as he sought (unsuccessfully) to be raised to the peerage and thus rendered ineligible for further election contests and expenditure. At the 1830 general election he was returned for the borough of New Ross, Co. Wexford, the alternate return for which was controlled by his first cousin, Francis Leigh of Rosegarland, Co. Wexford (whose mother had been a sister of Leslie's father). He died in 1831.

By his first wife, Anne Ryder, he had had three daughters (Alicia, Charlotte and Anne), but no sons. She died in 1813, and in 1819 he married Christiana, youngest daughter of George Fosbery of Clorane, Co. Limerick, by whom he had three sons, Charles Powell Leslie III (who died unmarried in 1871), John (who succeeded and was created a baronet in 1876) and Thomas, and four more daughters, Christiana (who married in 1843 the future 4th Marquess of Waterford), Prudentia-Penelope (who married the Rt Hon. George Cavendish-Bentinck, M.P.), Julia (a friend and correspondent of the painter, Landseer, and the sculptor, Marochetti [see K/1/5-6]), and Emily.

Leslie Papers

Charles Powell Leslie III (1821-1871)

Seymour Leslie resumes:

'.... In 1842 the third Charles Powell Leslie [see J/8] came of age, ... [and] there were great festivities in Glaslough ... . The year 1845 ushered in the terrible Famine, and though a good farming district like Glaslough may have been spared the extremities of suffering, the misery must yet have been acute. To give employment, the present limestone demesne wall was hurriedly constructed; rather too hurriedly in fact, for it is continually falling down in places! ... Charles Leslie must be given the credit for the leadership [of the post-Famine revival]; it was to him that many of the local farmers owed their free education in, and journey to, the best parts of Scotland, there to study scientific farming. ... The Ulster Railway decided to construct a line through Glaslough to Monaghan and Clones ... [and] the time occupied in journeying from Glaslough to London was thus reduced from days to a matter of hours. A large house, the "Agency", was built in the 'sixties by the Colonel; it is rather finely built of the best limestone in the Scotch fashion, but much too large and extravagant for its purpose. ... The Colonel certainly had ideas of building a new house for himself [G/4/2-3 and K/1/3], but he did not live to do more than build an extension, now the billiard room [P/5A].

In 1871, he died very suddenly, two years after his mother, at Glaslough. He had represented ... [Co. Monaghan] for thirty years. Having no children, he was succeeded by his younger brother, John. ... In 1874 a bronze bust of the late Colonel, by [Samuel] Lynn [brother of the architect of the 'new' Castle Leslie built in 1877- 1878], was erected over a fountain in the village - "from his grateful tenantry" [G/2/7]. ...'

Leslie Papers

The Leslie estates

The Leslie estates in the mid-19th century comprised the following townlands (as recited in a later deed of settlement of 1908 [C/6], which has the advantage, first, of being in typescript, and, second, of setting the townlands out in rough alphabetical order by barony):

The Glaslough and Emyvale Estate

Co Monaghan Barony of Trough

Aghnaha, - otherwise Aughanha Derryhallagh Agnavar Derryveen Annabeg, -otherwise Annabog Derrylea Annacatty Desert, -otherwise Deserts Annagh Doagheys, -otherwise Dougheys Annaloughan, -otherwise Aghaloughan, - Dromore otherwise Aughalcughan, -otherwise Aughaloughane Astrish Beg Drumbanagher Astrish More Drumberrin Aughadrumcrew, -otherwise Drumbriston, -otherwise Drumbristan Aghadrumcru Belderg Drumcaw Billis Drumcondra Carragans, -otherwise Carrigans Drumfernsky, -otherwise Drumfarnasky Cavan Drumgaghan, -otherwise Drumgaha Cavancope Drumgarn, -otherwise Drumgarron, - otherwise Drumcarroll Clanickny, -otherwise Cleniskney Drummarrall, -otherwise Drumarrell Clenisboyle, -otherwise Clonisboyle Drumnolan, -otherwise Drummoland Cloncaw, -otherwise Clencaw Drumsheeny Clonkeen Drumturk Clury, -otherwise Clery Donagh Coolcollid Dundonagh Corlatallan Emy Cornacrieve Emyvale Corracrin, -otherwise Corrachrin Engah Corradown, -otherwise Corragh Down Faulkland Corrah Maxwell, -otherwise Corragh Feganny, -otherwise Figanny Maxwell Crocknasave, -otherwise Knocknasave Figular Dernahattan, -otherwise Dernahatten Foxhole Dernahinch Glannan, -otherwise Glennan Dernavea, -otherwise Dernaved Glasslough, -otherwise Glaslough Derrivarget, -otherwise Derrinarget Golan Derrygassan Lower and Upper, Griggy --otherwise Derrygasson Public Record Office of Northern Ireland 13 Crown Copyright 2007

Leslie Papers

Co Monaghan Barony of Trough (cont’d)

Hill Hall Mullaghpeak, -otherwise Mullapike Kilboley, -otherwise Killyboley Mullaghmore Kilcran, -otherwise New Mills Mullajordan, -otherwise Mullyjordan Killcauly, -otherwise Killealy, -otherwise Mullan Kilcorly Killybrone Mullanlary Killycooley, -otherwise Kilcooly Mullaselshina Killycorrigan, otherwise Killycunningham, Mullinalbeg, -otherwise Mullananallog, - -otherwise Killyconigan otherwise Mullinalog Killydonagh Portinaghy, -otherwise Partinaghey Killyhommon Pullis Killykeady, -otherwise Killakeady Ralaghan Killyrain Lower Skinnagin Killyrain Upper, -otherwise Killyrean Skinnahergney Lower Kilnageer, -otherwise Kilnageen Straghan, -otherwise Cornasore Knockakerivan, -otherwise Knockakerwar Stramore Knockakerivan, -otherwise Knockakerwar Tarramean, -otherwise Terramoan, - otherwise Tiramoan Knockbeany, -otherwise Knockabeany Tavenagh Knockbeany, -otherwise Knockabeany Telayden, -otherwise Teleadon Leek Tony-garvey, -otherwise Tonegarvey Letgonnelly, -otherwise Litgonnelly Tonyhamigan Letloonigan Trananny, -otherwise Tryanney Lisgoagh, -otherwise Lisgo Tully Looart, -otherwise Lowart Moy Tullyree Mulladermott Upper Kilvey Mullaghbane, -otherwise Mullabane Urlisk Mullaghduff, -otherwise Mulladuff White island

Co. Monaghan Barony of Dartrey

Aughadrum Drumhirk Cavan Kern

Co. Monaghan Barony of Monaghan

Cavanreagh and part thereof called Drumagelvin, -otherwise Drumgelvin Faulkland Demesne Corbeg Kilnaclay Corvally,-otherwise Connally Crowhill, - Kilturbret, -otherwise Kiltubrit otherwise Crowey Crumlin Shelvins Drumaclon, -otherwise Drumaclan

Leslie Papers

Co. Tyrone Barony of Clogher

Annaloughan Ballylagan, -otherwise Ballylaggan Ballygreenan, -otherwise Ballygreenhill Roughan

Co. Tyrone Barony of Lower Dungannon

Annalusk Drumaslagie Ballynahuttock Terlucan

The Pettigo Estate

Co. Donegal Barony of Tirhugh

Aghafay Fincashill Aghalagh Glasskeeragh Ardnaglass Gortenessy Aughhnaboles, -otherwise Aughnavoles Kilgornell Ballynackavany Kimmed Bannus Belatt, -otherwise Belait North Leheny Belatt South, -otherwise Belalt South Letteran Bilbary, -otherwise Billary Lough Derg Bireog Lough Ultan Boeshill Margay Carne Meelanellisson Carnhessy Middlebrook Carrickrory Minchifin Casheleny Mullingoad Corley Oughtkeen Crilly Pettigo Croaghbrack Rusheen Croagh Seavoy Crocknacunnie Seshiaskilty Cullion Tamur Drumacue Tavlagh Drumawarte Tievetooey Drumgun Tullycarne Drumheriff, -otherwise Drumharve, - Tullylark otherwise Drumherve

Leslie Papers

Co. Fermanagh Barony of Lurg

Backwood Firze or Firs Drumlongfield Ballynabranagh, -otherwise Ballybranagh Tiergannon Branaghmore Tullyhammon, -otherwise Tallyhommonon which stands that part of the village of Pettigo which is situated in Co. Fermanagh Carrigoughter, -otherwise Carrigonghter, --otherwise Carrickoughter

Leslie Papers

Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt (1822-1916)

'John Leslie [see K/1] was born, second-eldest of a large family, at Glaslough in 1822. ... In 1830 he was sent to school at Dedham, Essex. ... During midsummer term, 1834, he joined his elder brother, Charles, at Harrow. ... In 1839 John entered Christ Church, Oxford, at a time when the wonderful Movement was challenging the sleepy and often intensely worldly churchmen of that day. ... He obtained a commission in the 1st Lifeguards, and was quartered at the Regent's, Hyde Park, Windsor and Farnborough barracks.

In 1847, in company with Mr Hardinge (grandfather of the Indian Viceroy), he made the "Grand Tour", visiting Seville, Madrid, Frankfort, Rome, Egypt and Paris, where he arrived just after the upheaval of 1848. His journal [K/1/1] from 1844 to 1848 is illustrated with interesting sketches. ... In 1851, Exhibition year, he went to Dusseldorf and studied [painting] intermittently under Professor Sohn, under whose guidance he executed work never excelled by later efforts - "A German Girl", sent home to his mother, and Jennie, Lady Randolf Churchill "Children, Christ died for you", a noble canvas, now at Glaslough, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy ... . In 1853 he returned to England and, after a winter's hunting, started work again with a portrait of his sisters, Emily and Julia; and an excellent representation of the Belvoir Hunt. He became later one of a band of enthusiasts who met at a house in Charles Street and included Millais, Watts, Ruskin, Rossetti, and others. ... During 1854 and 1855, Sir John was in Dusseldorf and Rome, and finished "A Monk Preaching to Campagna Peasants" – this beautiful canvas now at Duart [Isle of Mull]; he also painted "Girl and Bee" and several smaller canvases at Paris, exhibiting some at the following year's Royal Academy.

In 1854 he met at Hazelwood [Watford?, home of Gerald Wellesley, Dean of Windsor] a distinguished Waterloo veteran, Colonel [the Hon. George Lionel Dawson] Damer [of Came, Dorset, younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Portarlington], and his daughter, Miss Constance Damer; the marriage taking place two years later at St George's [Hanover Square, London]. Mrs Damer ("Minnie Seymour") was the adopted daughter of George IV's wife, Mrs Fitzherbert, and inherited much of the latter's interesting correspondence and other relics.

Leslie Papers

Artistic and high society life in London

In 1857, Bute House, Cam[p]den Hill, was purchased, and in the studio there much work was done in the following years. ... During these ten years Sir John and Lady Constance gave many delightful little dinner parties; Dickens, Nasmyth, Marochetti, Leighton, Landseer, and last but not least, a great friend, Thackeray. ... Landseer was a great friend, and when bitterly criticised for his designs of the lions, the one redeeming feature of Trafalgar Square, wrote to Sir John ...: "... praise from the right source is a comforting reward after the years of labour, and enables me to face abuse and injustice". Sir John's endeavours during the next thirty years were mainly concentrated on a very ambitious canvas - "Peter negat Christum" - of much larger proportions and difficult requirements than any of ... [his] foregoing [works]. ... [In 1872] "Peter negat Christum" was exhibited at the Fine Arts Exhibition, and its painter elected a hon. member [of the] Royal Hibernian Academy.

In 1869 his mother, Mrs Leslie, died. ... Two years later ... Sir John succeeded to the Glaslough estates. ... In 1872 he purchased [Stratford House], 11 Stratford Place, [Oxford Street, London], and the following year saw much entertaining and not a few musical at-homes, at which Joachim and Rubinstein performed. ...' As Denys Forrest comments in The Oriental: Life Story of a West End Club (London, 1968), which is relevant because the Oriental Club moved its premises to Stratford House almost a century later: '... This was a happy heyday at Stratford House, incomparable setting for the handsome pair who had brought it back to life. ... Best of all, ... it was a family house, and what a family! The four daughters, Mary (Mrs Crawshay), Constance (Lady Hope), Dosia (Lady Bagot) and Olive (Mrs Murray Guthrie) were a lively crew enough, but their only brother "Jack", though vague and easy-going himself, brought a further infusion of dazzling energy into the circle by his marriage to Leonie Jerome ..., [daughter of] Leonard, king of the American turf, and [sister] of ... Clara, who married Moreton Frewen, and Jennie who became Lady Randolph Churchill and the mother of Sir Winston. The tumultuous tale can be read in the books already cited. Sufficient to say that they all dwelt at one time or another in or near Stratford Place, if not in Stratford House, and that the latter was their society spring-board ... '.

Leslie Papers

The new Castle Leslie

In 1873, Seymour Leslie continues, Sir John became engrossed in '... plans for a new house at Glaslough. ... The old house was found to be incapable of improvement, and it was decided to construct another. ... There is nothing perhaps more stimulating for an energetic intelligent man, than the possession of a fine home; it calls forth every creative desire, and forms a background to every kind of effort. It is not therefore surprising that the opportunity to rebuild and perfect Glaslough was eagerly grasped; and the following ten years saw Sir John collecting treasures from pictures at Florence to books at Sotheby's. The new house was carefully designed by Sir John and the architect [William Henry Lynn of Belfast (see G/4)], so as to have none of the defects of the old building [which included almost no view of the lake]. ... Messrs Henry of Belfast were the contractors, and the building, which is of the local limestone together with Dumfriesshire sandstone, shows frequent inclination to the Scotch style. A loggia was run out to the old billiard room, with a corridor behind it ..., [which was subsequently] painted by Sir John. The first house-party was in 1878, and ... in 1881 the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Earl Spencer, paid a visit. Drives and paths had been constructed round the demesne, the lake embanked, and four lodge-gates built ... .

Leslie Papers

Co. Monaghan elections

[In 1871, Sir John] ... was selected as candidate in the Conservative interest for ... [Co.] Monaghan. Except for one brief interval, Glaslough had for over a century provided the county with able members of parliament. That amiable Home-Ruler, Isaac Butt, contested the seat with Sir John, but the latter secured a majority of 1,100, the electorate numbering 4,000. He was introduced to the House by [his brothers-in-law, G.A. Cavendish] Bentinck and "Hippy" [Lionel Seymour William Dawson] Damer [later 4th Earl of Portarlington]. ...

Another [Co. Monaghan] election took place [in 1874], and after a stiff contest, Sir John was again returned. In connection with the Land Agitation his speeches attracted the favourable notice of Disraeli, who recommended ... [him for a] baronetcy in 1876. Sir John's delivery was slow but the words well chosen, effective, and compelling of respect; with much shrewd commonsense and an avoidance of that violent reactionary "talk" which did such harm to the landlords' cause. ... [All the same, he lost his seat after a bitter and painful contest at the general election of 1880. A.B. Cooke, in his essay 'A Conservative Party Leader in Ulster: Sir Stafford Northcote's Diary of a Visit to the Province, October 1883' in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 75 (section C, No.4, Dublin 1975), writes that he was 'passed over for a peerage by Salisbury in the late 1880s despite repeated applications by his wife.']

Leslie Papers

Latter years He visited Florence in 1875, and was able to collect much of great interest at the sale of the Aldobrandini Palace. A splendid Luca [sic – Andrea] della Robbia (now the drawing room mantelpiece) was also secured, for thirty pounds. ... In 1894 Stratford House was sold. In 1898 Sir John, now seventy-six, completed a fine series of frescoes – "Christ as Healer", for the chapel of Berkhamstead Public School; part of the work being done at Glaslough.

In 1903, his brother Tom; in 1905 his sister Christiana Waterford; and in 1909 his sister Emily, died; ... [leaving] Sir John ... the only survivor of that large family. In 1906 Sir John and Lady Constance enjoyed their golden wedding in brilliant weather at Glaslough; a large garden party was held, and addresses from all creeds and classes presented. The aged Primate, Dr Alexander, was present, and wrote a fine poem for the occasion. After this, Sir John and Lady Constance Leslie on their Golden Wedding, 1906 declining years rendered the long journeys wearisome, and they accordingly retired to England, living at 22, Manchester Square, London, and Berkhamstead or Brighton in the summer. [Sir John died in 1916 and Lady Constance in 1925.]

Leslie Papers

Lady Constance Leslie (1836-1925)

In the fly-leaves of a volume of letters from Lady Constance [K/6/1] assembled by her grandson, Sir Shane, are preserved a number of newspapers obituaries of her composed in 1925, from two of which the following extracts are made:

'... She was born in 1836, the year before Queen Victoria came to the throne, at Fulham, and remained a most devoted Victorian to the end of her life. ... Her father['s mother] ... was a granddaughter of the famous travellor and letter-writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Her mother, Mrs Dawson Damer, was the subject of the "Seymour Case". What the truth of the mystery was probably died with Lady Constance, who always averred that her mother was not Mrs Fitzherbert's child [there was a theory that Minnie Seymour's 'adoption' by Mrs Fitzherbert had been a cover-up]. In any case the letters and jewels of Mrs Fitzherbert were divided between Lady Constance and her sisters. Romney's picture of Mrs Fitzherbert went to Lady Fortescue, while Lady Blanche Heygarth, her other sister, who died on 30 July 1922, restored George the Fourth's miniature to the Fifth of that royal name. Lady Constance inherited the locket and bracelet [and many diamonds] which the King had given to Mrs Fitzherbert, and a mass of his letters, which she allowed Mr [W.H.] Wilkins to use in writing his ... George IV and Mrs Fitzherbert [2 vols., London, 1905], a work eventually dedicated to Lady Constance Leslie. In 1889 Lady Constance and Lady Blanche were raised to the rank of earl's daughters when their brother, "Hippy" Damer, succeeded to the earldom of Portarlington. ...

Lady Constance never lost her charm and vivacity, and was the last source of much of the forgotten talk and gossip of Victorian times. She bought and burnt a number of Lady Cardigan's memoirs, of whom and of which she disapproved, and annotated other copies [eg K/6/10] with versions which will one day be the delight of memoir- writers. ... She was a picturesque and commanding personality in the close-fitting Quaker bonnet and long veil flowing behind which she adopted in her latest years, with the same sense of what was appropriate and fitting that had ever marked her taste in beautiful and becoming dress. Gardening, too, she ranked among her favourite pursuits, and during her husband's lifetime the grounds of Glaslough bore striking testimony to her artistic sense ...'.

Leslie Papers

Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt (1857-1944), and the Jerome connection

Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt [see L/1-4], was born - the eldest child of his parents - in August 1857. He was educated at Eton and 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.

Seymour Leslie records, in The Jerome Connexion: '... He ... retired from the Grenadiers after the Egyptian campaign to study at the Academie Julien in Paris ... and ... [in October 1884, as] an idle man-about-town ... married Leonie Jerome, younger sister of Jennie (Lady Randolph Churchill), in New York with the active disapproval of both ... [families], though the American press pointed out that he was heir to Irish estates with twenty thousand gold sovereigns a year virtually tax free. Her mother, Mrs Leonard Jerome, was the perfect snob, even ashamed that Jennie had been born to her in a Brooklyn house, ... and feeling that these Irish squireens were poor fish after the magnificent Churchills. ... The young couple were married in Grace Church [New York], Frank Griswold, the American sportsman, being best man, ... [and] the Leslies [soon] accepted Leonie. ...

Leslie Papers

Attempts at economy and modernisation

The Victorian atmosphere remained at Castle Leslie until ... [Sir John and Lady Constance's] Golden Wedding in 1906, a vast house- and garden-party. Old Sir John, at eighty-two, would have preferred to live out his many remaining years in Ireland but she, so much younger, would not hear of it. They departed for Manchester Square [London] and Hove, on a jointure of £4000 ... . This in present-day values sounds distinctly 'comfortable'. It also left ... [John and Leonie Leslie] with little to run the place, even when the long overdue purge of the personnel took place. ... The indoor servants were cut from thirteen to seven ..., and the Edwardian Age arrived at Glaslough. From London came decorators to strip the shiny pitch-pine or oak woodwork, the whole castle was redecorated in Leonie's perfect taste that has survived to our times. In due course electric light, bathrooms and central heating were put in ... .

Leslie Papers

Leonie, Lady Leslie

Anita Leslie records, in Edwardians in Love (London, 197?): '[Leonie Leslie,] when she entered London society as the chic, graceful, but not particularly pretty younger sister of a famous beauty [Lady Randolph Churchill] ..., had to overcome her own sensitivity to comparison. ... Incapable of jealousy, Leonie determined to develop her own assets to perfection. She played the piano as well as her sister, excelling at Chopin, whereas Jennie liked to pound out more tempestuous feelings in Beethoven sonatas, and she had the quickest wit of her generation. But apart from her music and her joie de vivre, Leonie possessed an extraordinary talent for touching the emotional chords in human beings. She wanted people to Leonie Jerome, 1884 like her – not an unusual trait – but she also understood the shy and the hopeful: she was genuinely interested in others, and as she grew older her sympathy and wisdom increased. ...

Leslie Papers

A royal connection

It was in the mid-nineties, when they had been married for about ten years, that ... [John Leslie], who had served in the Guards Brigade under the Duke of Connaught, introduced the vivacious Leonie to his former commanding officer. H.R.H. immediately fell under her spell, and remained so until 1942, when he died aged ninety-two. The Duke was a keen professional soldier, and the year 1895 contained a bitter disappointment, for he had hoped to succeed the old Duke of Cambridge as Commander-in-Chief. ... [Leonie Leslie thus entered his] life at a moment when he felt the star of fortune turned harshly. Being a susceptible male, Arthur knew his heart shaken; and being a shy German princess, the Duchess reached out for the gaiety which the American radiated. ... For decades [therefore, Leonie Leslie] "ruled the Duchess and ran the Duke". ...

For two or three years [1900-1904] the Duke commanded the troops in Ireland ... . The Leslies naturally paid frequent visits to the Connaughts' residence in Dublin, and in summer-time the Duke rented Castle Blayney, a large country house seventeen miles from Castle Leslie, so the va et vien could be continuous. ... Leonie and her husband accompanied the Connaughts to India when the Duke went to represent King Edward at the Durbar. ... When in 1909 [sic - 1907] the Duke assumed command of the Mediterranean area it meant that the Jack Leslies went out to enjoy Malta, and [the Leslie] scrapbooks grew heavy with photographs of polo, ponies and parasols. ...

In 1913 the Duke became Governor-General of Canada. ... Soon after this, war broke out and Leonie's son, Norman, was killed [N/1-2], as were the sons of almost all her friends. ... In 1915, to help assuage their grief, Jack and Leonie paid a visit to Ottawa. ... In 1917, when the Connaughts had returned to England and the Duchess grew seriously ill, Leonie called daily at Clarence House and was asked to break the final news. ... Throughout the next twenty-five years Leonie would continue to cheer and amuse her Prince. ... [And] from 1898 to 1936 she nearly always spent Whitsun at the Duke's house at Bagshot. ...'

Leslie Papers

Hard and changed times

'... [Meanwhile, writes Seymour Leslie] land purchase had done away with most of the Leslies' Irish acres and John Leslie's [now (since 1916) Sir John] charming désinvolture was leading to difficulties. ... All good houses must come to an end and ... [the Leslies'] at No. 10 Great Cumberland Place was much too large for ... [them] as their Irish income fell. ... [Even Lady Constance had to be told] that the big house in Manchester Square must be sold and a move made to a small flat, as soon at the [1914-1918] war ended. ... [She] kept her sly counsel and remained un-removed for eight years and lived to enjoy the earlier '20s with a string of elderly beaux ... .

The Irish Free State too arrived after a painful labour and ... [Sir John Leslie] lived to vote for de Valera, to everyone's surprise. His deafness and vagueness had saved Castle Leslie in the "Troubled times" of 1920. Being told there were armed men parading in the village, at a time when ... [his] neighbours' houses were going up in flames, he strode down and inspected them, supposing them to be police enforcing order. As the oldest living British Grenadier officer, he warmly complimented them on their fine turnout. They were IRA commandos. ... [By this stage], the Leslie diamonds were in temporary pawn and the real goldmine of ... [the first Sir John's] collection of Old Masters was being tapped, at a ... [fraction of their value, including] eighteen Fra [Fi]lippo Lippi "Saints" [sold] ... to Lord Lee ... .

Leslie Papers

The Second World War and Castle Leslie

The women and children of ... [the Leslie] family spent the Second World War in the overflowing Castle Leslie, technically just inside the "neutral" area of the Republic but actually on the Border itself so that they had it "both ways" and could be visited by the fighting males provided that these changed from their uniforms into civilian garb. ... It was thus not a bad "Shangri-la" for an old couple [in their eighties] in war-time and [for] mothers with young children. ...

[Leonie Lady Leslie died in 1943 receiving an obituary notice in The Times] ... half a column long, in itself unusual for someone not in public life, especially in 1943 when newsprint space was severely rationed. ... Lennox Robinson, the playwright, for many years manager of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, wrote of Leonie ...: "[She was an] ... invisible mender and you would meet at a weekend in her lovely Monaghan home the Governor-General of the Free State and the Commander of the Forces in Northern Ireland. ... She talked brilliantly herself but with the great gift of making everyone else talk a little bit better than they thought they could. ..." [Sir John] ... was a man bereft indeed and only survived her by a few months. ...'

Leslie Papers

Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt (1885-1971)

The following account of Sir Shane Leslie's eventful and at times controversial life is taken from an amalgam of the obituaries of him [O/22] which appeared in The Northern Standard, The Tablet, The Times and The King's College Magazine, following his death in August 1971:

'... A wit, an engaging figure in the society he knew best, an active convert to the Roman Catholic Church, Sir Shane Leslie [see Sections M and R] brought a buoyant and nostalgic temperament to his experience of life and to his busy career as a man of letters. He was poet, novelist, travel writer, biographer, student of history and Catholic apologist, and in all these capacities he managed as a rule to offer both pleasure and instruction. His work, which exhibits a remarkable fluency, lacks the highest distinction and is at times both untidy and epigrammatically laboured, but there is much to reward the reader in his volumes of reminiscences and in the best of his studies and portraits of the eminent.

Born in 1885, John Randolph Leslie ... succeeded to the title in 1944. ... Leslie grew up in the Ireland of Somerville and Ross, a world of horses, snipe-bogs, giant pike, private chaplains, devoted gamekeepers and feckless, golden-hearted tenants. ... [At Eton] ... he was noted for his wit and literary taste, and [went from there] to King's College, Cambridge. ... Leslie was received into the Church of Rome while still an undergraduate, [and] shortly afterwards assumed the Christian name of Shane ...'. '... He was actually received at the church of the Oblates of St Charles, Bayswater, very fittingly for the future biographer of Manning.'

Leslie Papers

Home Rule and the First World War

'... In espousing the Catholic religion, ... [Leslie], a scion of an Ulster Ascendancy family, also espoused the cause of the Catholic Irish. ...' '... In 1910 and 1911 [sic - January and December 1910] he stood for parliament as Nationalist candidate for Derry City, on one occasion missing election by only 57 votes ... . He was deeply interested in the Gaelic revival and in 1911 went to the United States to lecture on the subject. ...'. '... As the Home rule controversy sharpened, his father, true to family tradition, became one of Carson's lieutenants, drilling the Ulster Volunteers, while his son crept out to drill with [the] Nationalist Volunteers. But ... [Leslie] used to say afterwards that locally the antagonism was not as sharp as it was at Westminster, and the two sets of Volunteers, both being very short of rifles, used to lend them to each other for purposes of drill. For all his attachment to Eton and Cambridge, he considered himself an Irishman and adopted Irish traditional dress, finally settling for the saffron kilt in which he was painted, and in which he became such a familiar figure in the life of London. ...

'... He was sent to Washington to help in the extremely difficult situation which followed the Easter Rising and the executions in Dublin ... [in 1916, and]' '... raised his voice against them ... . [While in Washington], ... he worked with [the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil] Spring Rice in the cause of moderation in dealing with the Irish question ...'. '... The constant hostility of the Irish American descendants of those who had been forced to emigrate in the last century militated in the Democratic Party of Woodrow Wilson against America's participation in the War. Irish American cardinals, like O'Connell of Boston and Dougherty of Philadelphia, were strongly anti- English, but ... [Leslie] won their friendship, and he already found Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, the senior American cardinal, a staunch friend of the Allies. In 1918 Sinn Fein wiped out the Nationalist Party and with it Shane Leslie's political ambition. But as the cousin of Winston Churchill and the friend of Hazel Lavery, in whose house so many of the preparatory exchanges for the Irish Treaty of 1921 took place, he was closely concerned and remained a primary witness to much that was said and done outside the official record ...'

Leslie Papers

Early and mainly Catholic writings

'... He had published two books of verse before he made an impression in 1916 with The End of a Chapter, begun while he was in hospital, invalided in the war. Brilliant, candid, nostalgic, these memories of youth and of the glamour and security of the world before 1914 project the character and style of much of his most successful writing. A mood of autobiography was seldom wholly absent from his work. ...' '... Leslie had a spell in the early 1920s [sic - 1916-1926] as editor of The Dublin Review, one of an all-too-long list of short tenures between the death of Wilfred Ward in 1916 and the death of the Dublin itself half a century later; [Leslie's tenure was brought to an end following the hierarchy's disapproval of the sexually explicit scenes in the first edition of his autobiographical novel, The Cantab]. In 1922, he published a Life of Cardinal Manning, designed to counter the effect of Lytton Strachey's essay. ...' [In the same year, 1922, Leslie also brought out] '... a biographical portrait of his friend [and cousin] Mark Sykes, ... [and] a novel about Eton, The Oppidan. This provoked some controversy and seemed to be very much a novel for Etonians only.

Next year came Doomsland, a semi-autobiographical novel with an Irish setting; then a volume of short stories, Masquerades, dedicated to Frederick Rolfe (Leslie had been one of the earliest admirers of that strange figure, the author of Hadrian the Seventh); and after that The Cantab (1926), an entertaining if somewhat exaggeratedly satirical novel which ...' '... is an account of the intellectual controversies of Leslie's undergraduate years with the main protagonists thinly disguised by transparent pseudonyms. ... The withdrawal of the first edition [of The Cantab] under pressure from the Roman Episcopate and the Magistrature on account of scenes of sexual reality gives it the added bibliophilic appeal of rarity. ...' '... Cardinal Bourne very much disapproved of a certain "indecorousness", to use ... [Leslie's] own word, in The Cantab, ... [and its] withdrawal did not efface the bad impression from the Cardinal's mind. Although ... [Leslie] was later to write a memoir of Gasquet, whom he knew well, most of his subsequent writing was not of specifically Catholic interest, though he himself remained a close follower of happenings in the Church.

Leslie Papers

A versatile and prolific writer

He had a flair for research, a gift for unearthing documents in country houses, and he was particularly well-informed about the nineteenth century, both early and late ...'. '... The list of ... [his] published works is long [seventy entries in the British Library catalogue], and it is not possible here to do much more than recall the titles of some of the more important.

These include what at the time was perhaps a too fashionable defence of the character of George the Fourth (1926); The Skull of Swift (1928); a selection of prose renderings from the Greek Anthology (1929); a memoir of J.E.C. Bodley (1930); a narrative poem in alexandrine couplets, which follows very faithfully the official narratives, on the Battle of Jutland (1930); a study, from a conspicuously Roman Catholic point of view, of the Oxford Movement (1933); The Passing Chapter (1934), at once a breathless review of current topics and in some sort a sequel to The End of a Chapter; an entertaining volume of studies in late-Victorian biography, Men were Different (1937); The Film of Memory (1938), in which he returned once more to the shining period of his youth; the two somewhat diffuse but highly instructive volumes of his portrait of Mrs Fitzherbert (1939-1940), in the writing of which he had had access to important new material; and The Irish Tangle (1946), in which his historical generalisations were not seldom inexact or a little extravagant, but characteristically pointed with epigram. In 1954 he published a memoir of Cardinal Gasquet; Shane Leslie's Ghost Book, a collection of stories about ghosts, followed in 1955; and his last book Long Shadows, a memoir, appeared in 1966. An unflagging verbal address and animation marked ... almost everything that Shane Leslie wrote.'

Leslie Papers

Family life

'... He married first in 1912 Marjorie (who died in 1951), youngest daughter of Henry C[lay] Ide, of Vermont, who had been Governor-General of the Philippines [and at that time was United States Ambassador to Spain] ...'. [The Leslies] had two sons [John and Desmond] and a daughter [Anita]. ... [Sir Shane Leslie] married secondly in 1958 Iris, daughter of C.M. Laing ...'. '... His old age was spent at Hove, and the last book on which he was working was a biography of the hero of his undergraduate youth, M.R. James. This is unpublished, but a corrected typescript and many letters and other materials collected for his work were generously given to ... [King's] College in 1968. ...'

Leslie Papers

Sir Shane's dispersed and incomplete archive

In total Sir Shane wrote or translated 58 books. Some of them were autobiographical, others biographical; some dealt with Irish politics, and others with such diverse subjects as the paranormal and eastern mysticism. Sir Shane ... lectured widely throughout the British Isles and North America, wrote countless reviews and critiques and, as one would expect from a man of letters, rarely ceased corresponding with his family, friends and contemporaries. Given the fecundity of his pen, his numerous areas of interest, his vast and varied pool of correspondents and, of course, his typical Leslie longevity, Sir Shane's papers ought to form a larger part of the Castle Leslie archive than they do. Large sections of them have been hived off to libraries and universities in the British Isles and North America - mainly the libraries of Eton College, of King's College, Cambridge, of Georgetown University, Washington D.C., and of Notre Dame University, Indiana. However, the holdings of these institutions, taken in conjunction with the Castle Leslie archive, still leave some very substantial gaps in Sir Shane's papers.

None of the manuscripts of Sir Shane's published works is to be found at Castle Leslie, although printed copies with MS insertions abound. The Library at Eton College houses the transcripts of the autobiographical works, The Cantab and its sequel, The Anglo-Catholic, while the library of King's College, Cambridge, houses, in addition to the M.R. James material, some inconsequential correspondence. The major repositories of Sir Shane's papers outside Ireland are Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (G.U.) and, to a much lesser extent, the Notre Dame University Archives Department, Indiana (see Appendices C-D). It would appear that after Sir Shane's death, in 1971, the papers remaining in his house at Hove were put on the open market by his widow, Iris, Lady Leslie, and that G.U. (a Jesuit University), having made a specialism of the papers of Catholic authors, purchased them [see M/7/1]. Included in the G.U. archive are manuscripts and typescripts of Long Shadows, Rubaiyat of the Mystics, 'Mortal Ruin: A Memoir of Moreton Frewen [husband of his mother's younger sister, Clara]' (apparently duplicated at L/5/16 of the Castle Leslie Archive), and 'The Life of Leonard Jerome of New York'; as well as diaries, correspondence, books with inserts, scrapbooks, newspaper cuttings, and printed items and photographs.

It is possible that more of Sir Shane's papers, particularly his research notes and more manuscripts, etc, of his published works, may turn up elsewhere. Until then his archival legacy remains incomplete.

Leslie Papers

Other gaps in the Castle Leslie archive

Apart from the dispersal of and gaps in Sir Shane's archive, and the suspicious paucity of correspondence representative of the Jerome/Churchill era and connection, c.1880-1945, there are other stray or missing components of the Castle Leslie Archive of which mention should be made.

In 1952, John Leslie, now Sir John, 4th Bt, gave to the National Library of Ireland a quantity of deeds and estate material, 1617-1870, as described in NLI Reports on Private Collections, Nos. 220 and 366, and in R.J. Hayes (ed.), Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation. The National Archives, Dublin, also holds (PROI reference D/23077-23184) 'Leslie Papers: 108 deeds, 1617-late 19th century, including wills, relating to the Leslie, Anketell, Hamilton, Montgomery, Moore and Ridgeway families, and to lands in Cos Monaghan, Tyrone, Cavan and Donegal'. Much material, particularly estate material, is known to have been destroyed in the early 1950s, and a search of the office of the Leslie family's Monaghan solicitors, Martin & Brett, has yielded little.

An inexplicably large amount of title deeds, leases and estate and financial papers for the period 1660-1750 is present among the papers of the Leslies' kinsman, Viscount Dungannon (now represented by Lord Trevor) in the Clwyd Record Office. Finally, 'several hundred' letters from the Duke of Connaught to Leonie Lady Leslie, c.1898-1942, were presented by Seymour Leslie to the Royal Archives, Windsor, where they remained closed to inspection until 1993.

PRONI's list of the archive at Castle Leslie includes appendices giving details of the material in National Library of Ireland, Clwyd and the university libraries of Georgetown and Notre Dame.

Leslie Papers

The late Anita Leslie as a possible source

One largely unexplored possibility is the homes of Sir Shane's grandchildren, Tarka King and Leonie Finn, at Pentridge House, Pentridge, Dorset, and Oranmore Castle, Co. Galway, respectively. What may or may not survive at Oranmore is unknown. At Pentridge House there is material deriving from Sir Shane and from other branches of the family as well, including: a letter of c.1880 from Lord Randolph Churchill, writing from Cumberland Place, London, to Leonard Jerome; some late 19th and early 20th-century correspondence of his uncle and cousins, the Frewens of Brede Place, Sussex; a bundle of Lady Constance Leslie's correspondence, late 19th century-early 20th century; copies of some printed books by Sir Shane, with 'Grangerised' MS insertions in a manner characteristic of him; some photographs, photograph albums and correspondence deriving from his cousin, Clare Sheridan (the Frewens' daughter); some miscellaneous letters to, and letters and papers about, Sir Shane; and some letters and papers of his widow, Iris, Lady Leslie, who died in 1993. For reasons of geography, Tarka King was able to maintain contact with her up to the time of her death, so she is the source of some of this material, and Sir Shane's mother, Anita Leslie, is the source of the rest.

Because of Anita Leshe's researches into Lady Randolph Churchill in the 1970s, she must have had in her possession - at various locations - the letters from the Castle Leslie archive written by Lady Randolph to her sister, Leonie, Lady Leslie, very few of which have as yet come to light. Anita Leslie's own papers are at Pentridge House (with more, possibly, at Oranmore), apart from one box at Castle Leslie.

Leslie Papers

The Castle Leslie archive The Castle Leslie archive is now in the National Library of Ireland. Only the following sub-sections of the Leslie Papers have so far been photocopied or microfilmed, in whole or in part, by PRONI.

MIC606 and T3827:

J/8/8 T3827/1

K/1/10 T3827/2

K/1/18 T3827/3

K/2/10 T3827/4

K/2/11 (part) T3827/5

K/2/15 T3827/6

K/2/23 (part) T3827/7

K/3/2 (part) T3827/8

K/3/9 (part) T3827/9

K/4/7 (part) T3827/10

M/1 MIC606 M/3 MIC606

M/2 MIC606 M/4 MIC606

Leslie Papers

A. Title deeds and related legal case papers

This section enables a comprehensive and clearly traceable account of how the Leslie estates were acquired and built up. A/1/1-4 contains important earlier deeds, 1619 and 1665, relating to the Leslie estate in Co. Monaghan, including an incomplete non-contemporary copy (in Latin) of Bishop John Leslie's patent of lands in the barony of Upper Trough, Co. Monaghan, [22 May 1665]. Further acquisitions from other landowners brought with them their earlier deeds, leases, bonds, etc. which are included in the archive. Those of 1659-1692 relate to Moore of Garvey, Co. Tyrone, Anketell of Anketell Grove, Co. Monaghan, Coote of Drumberrin, Co. Monaghan etc. The rest of the section [A/3 to A/21] deals with further acquisitions mainly by Charles Powell Leslie II of lands in Co. Monaghan in the early 19th century. Important among these, are acquisitions from the estates of the Earl of Bellomont, the Viscount Massereene and Ferrard and Edward Richardson of Poplar Vale, 1775- 1913.

The Leslie family's Co. Donegal estate at Pettigo, Lough Derg, etc, was part of the see lands of Clogher and had been leased by Bishop John Leslie from pre 1666. The importance of this Bishop's lease to the Leslies' estate and income explains the anxiety of Charles Powell Leslie III to get his brother John translated to the see of Clogher [see J/7/61. The later papers of 1847, 1880-1881 and 1913 all relate to a dispute in the early 1880s leading to a lawsuit with Bishop James Donnelly the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher. This concerned ownership of Station Island and access to the well-known place of pilgrimage, Saint Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg. Eventually in the 1940s, this was settled, by the family handing it over to the church. Title deeds, etc, 1774-1801 relate to the Leslies' successive Dublin town houses, eg. a deed of sale by Charles Powell Leslie II of No. 2 St Stephen's Green, 1801. Leslie was a county member of parliament and after the Union, needing to reside in London during the parliamentary session, he disposed of his Dublin town house.

Leslie Papers

B. Leases and related legal case papers

The Leslie leases, conveyances, etc, for Co. Monaghan run with interruptions from 1709 to the 1960s. A box of the same for Pettigo extends from 1786-1787 to 1960 with many of the leases granted in those first two years. Included is a document headed 'Instructions for leases, 1809'. A box of Irish Land Commission sale papers for the Co. Monaghan estate covers the years 1889-1924. Some interesting examples include: leaseholds assigned in c.1806 to Charles Powell Leslie II by Charles Rawdon, son of the former Leslie agent, Captain John Rawdon, in satisfaction of the debt of well over £2,000 on rents collected but not accounted for by his father; case papers and copy leases and deeds, 1769-1814, arise from a lawsuit, Charles Powell Leslie II v Nehemiah Charlton, linen manufacturer, over the adverse effects of a mill-race on the bogs annexed to Leslie's lands of Tully, Co. Monaghan. The quantity of surviving leases is small because a large number were - most unfortunately destroyed in recent years.

Leslie Papers

C. Wills and settlements

As well as wills and testamentary papers of the Leslie family, the section also includes wills, probates and related papers of people from whom the Leslies bought land, to whom they let land, or with whom they were at litigation. C/2-4 covers the main family members, the 1st and 2nd Bts, Lady Constance, Sir Shane and the complicated affairs arising from the intestacy of Norman Leslie who was killed on the Western front in 1914. C/6 1877-1939 contains a deed of 1879 by which John Leslie [the future 2nd Bt] joins his father Sir John, 1st Bt, in charging on the estate the cost of building the new Castle Leslie. There is also a copy of a settlement of 23 July 1908 by the future Sir Shane on becoming a Roman Catholic and while contemplating entering the priesthood. This was in favour of his brother Norman and related to his estates in remainder in the Glaslough, Co. Fermanagh and Pettigo areas, in consideration of certain rent-charges created in his favour.

Leslie Papers

D. Rentals and miscellaneous volumes

This section includes rentals starting in 1766 for Co. Monaghan and Pettigo with a valuation of the estate (by James Nixon, the agent) in 1826 and another in 1916. Rentals for 1796 are of Charles Powell Leslie's lands of Bryanstown, Ballinamona, etc. Co.Wexford, which came from his second wife Mary-Anne, daughter and heiress of the Rev. Joshua Tench. The rentals from Glaslough and Pettigo 1928-1960 (with gaps) relate to the Sir John Leslie Estates Company. There are 19th- and 20th century game and fishing books, account books for Glaslough estate 1848- 1857, and for Castle Leslie demesne and home farm 1929-1931. One volume 1931- 1963 contains plans and proposals for tree planting, forestry, etc. at Castle Leslie. There is a box containing two volumes, 1871-1915 and 1915-1963, respectively of the Castle Leslie visitors' book.

Leslie Papers

E. Vouchers

There are four boxes of vouchers from the late 18th and early 19th centuries for burial expenses, lawyers' bills, repairs to St Salvator's, Glaslough, other building accounts and accounts for the heavy election expenditure incurred by Charles Powell Leslie II, particularly during the Co. Monaghan election of 1826.

Leslie Papers

F. Formal documents

F/1 is a box of patents, commissions, deputations, certificates of membership, degrees, etc., 1771-1985, recording the election, appointment, etc. of members of the Leslie family and Henry Clay Ide sometime judge of the Vermont Supreme Court, Chief Justice of Samoa and Governor-General of the Philippines, father-in-law of Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt to various offices. The earliest document is Charles Powell Leslie I's certificate of election to the Corporation of Horse breeders of Co. Down, 1771, and the latest are Sir John Leslie 4th Bt's Papal honours and decorations, 1948-1985. Also included are Sir John Leslie 2nd Bt's patents as Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Co. Monaghan, 1921 [perhaps the last person so appointed pre-partition]. Also present [F/2] is an outsize patent, in its original red leather-bound patent box, creating John Leslie of Castle Leslie a baronet in 1876.

Leslie Papers

G. Maps, plans and surveys

This section includes a huge number of maps, plans and surveys of varying interest. It includes a February 1763 survey of the plantation acres, tenants, houses, mills, etc, on the Glaslough and Emy estates. There is an outsize volume of maps 1763-1767 by James Ashmur junior of the '... Emy and Glasslough [sic] estates ... divided into the different farms and qualities in each townland, giving the area of each in Plantation measure, with a representation of all the principal roads, woods, bogs, loughs and rivers in and adjoining the same ...'

A further series of maps, plans, and drawings, 1786-1988, relates to the demesne and out-buildings at Castle Leslie. Prominent examples are: architectural drawings, 1854, by Ninian Niven for a conservatory in the kitchen garden; a general plan, December 1866, for a proposed arrangement of the gardens and pleasure grounds, signed 'James Howe, Landscape Architect, London' and executed in ink and watercolour; the design for the memorial bust of the late Charles Powell Leslie III [c.1871] surmounting the drinking fountain in Glaslough village, by S.E. Lynn, brother of the architect of Castle Leslie, W.H. Lynn.

There are Castle Leslie house plans, 1854-late 20th century, including the following: water-marked proposal (three separate drawings) for a new house at Castle Leslie, 1872; series of designs [commissioned by Charles Powell Leslie I] for a new Castle Leslie; ... plan of building showing approaches [signed] Lanyon & Lynn, 28 Oct. 1859'; five plans or designs by W H. Lynll of 1872 for the proposed new Castle Leslie. These are framed and hanging at Castle Leslie. Also present are the contract and accounts 1874-1879 between Sir John Leslie 1st Bt and James Henry of Belfast, builder of the new Castle Leslie. The original contract price was £19,043 but additional works and changes of plan added c. £3000 to that sum.

There are other estate and OS maps relating to Leslie lands in Monaghan, Pettigo and Fermanagh. The section ends with a late 19th century/early 20th century family tree. There is also elsewhere at Castle Leslie a boxed pedigree tracing the Leslie family origins to Atilla the Hun.

Leslie Papers

H. Family and local history

This section includes material deriving from or relating to the early Leslies, consisting almost entirely of the archive copies of various printed works of Dr Charles Leslie ('the Non juror'), 1695-1721. Two sets of E.P Shirley's The History of the County of Monaghan (London, 1879) are larded with numerous original documents from c.1660, copies and extracts of original documents, contemporary and non- contemporary letters, and notes, genealogies etc., stuck in by Sir Shane Leslie. A further box contains printed, typescript and MS material all relating to Co. Monaghan local history and the history of the Leslie family. The History of Monaghan for Two Hundred Years, 1660-1860, by Denis Carolan Rushe (Dundalk, 1921), with a preface by Sir Shane Leslie, has had, stuck into the fly-leaves a letter of 1921 to Sir Shane from Rushe about the proofs and other letters from Rushe to Sir Shane.

Leslie Papers

J. Charles Powell Leslie I, II and III (1767-1871)

A box of letters and related papers, 1766-1800, of Charles Powell Leslie I (1731- 1800), includes: correspondence about the lease of Leslie lands in Killycooly and Emyvale, which makes mention of a restrictive covenant against Papist tenants designed to make Emyvale 'a Protestant colony'. There are letters and papers, reflecting his active social life, his interest in theatricals, and his [second] marriage to Mary-Anne Tench in 1785.

Particularly interesting is correspondence about 'the Neville mystery'. This centres on Letitia Morres, daughter of the 1st Lord Mountmorres, who married Arthur Trevor, son of Lord Dungannon, in 1763 or earlier. In the same year she had a son by Charles Powell Leslie I who took the name of William Neville and received an annuity. Leslie had married Prudence Trevor, daughter of Lord Dungannon, so he had a son by his sister-in-law. According to another theory, Leslie, aged about fifteen, hid in a wardrobe with the thirteen-year-old daughter of Lord Mountmorres. As a result they produced a baby girl, Anne Leslie, whose name was changed later to Letitia Morres. It is perfectly possible that 'Anne Leslie' was his legitimate daughter - probably one who died young, as there is no mention of her in any reference work. Altogether the William Neville theory is more plausible, and especially since the bundle includes letters to Letitia, that she was the mother.

Further letters to Charles Powell Leslie I and his wife reflect their connection with the Dungannon and Mornington families (Anne, eldest daughter of the 1st Viscount Dungannon, married the 1st Earl of Mornington and was the mother of, among others, the 1st Duke of Wellington). A letter to Leslie from the 1st Earl of Mornington in 1776, concerns the debt with which his Merrion Street house was saddled (this was where his son, the future Duke of Wellington, had been born. 'The Iron Duke' when asked if having been born in Ireland made him Irish, famously replied that to be born in a stable does not make one a horse.)

This leads nicely to letters of 1949 and 1966 to Sir Shane Leslie from the 7th Duke of Wellington, who discusses the family connection and concludes, apropos of the declaration of the Irish Republic in 1949: '... With one exception (my father) every traceable ancestor of mine in the male line - that is as far as the early 16th century - was born in Ireland, as I was myself ... and now it is more foreign than British Honduras. I never wish to go there again. ... The letter of 1966 gives the lie to the foregoing because it mentions that the Duke has just been in Co. Donegal.

The political and Irish Volunteer material of C.P. Leslie I includes lists of freeholders and rare Poll Books. There are two volunteer papers, the first containing resolutions of the Lisnavein Volunteers. The second is a printed letter from 'The Cobbler of Monaghan' to James Hamilton Esq., Provost of Monaghan, abusing him for his venality, subservience and ulterior motives in belatedly espousing the volunteer cause and emasculating its independence and strength on behalf of his patrons, 'Lady Blayney, General Cunningham [sic - Cuninghame] and Lord Clermont, the two latter under the influence and pay of government'. A 1797 letter and an affidavit, from General John Knox to Charles Powell Leslie I, relate to the suppression of United Irish activity in the Glaslough neighbourhood.

Leslie Papers

Charles Powell Leslie II (1769-1831)

Three boxes of letters and papers, 1793-1835, of Charles Powell Leslie II, deal with estate and business affairs, including letters to Leslie from R. Dawson touching him for loans. [This was presumably Richard Dawson, son and namesake of Leslie's late colleague as M.P for Co. Monaghan and the future 2nd Lord Cremorne?]. Papers of 1793-1806 include a statement of the case of Capt. John Rawdon, and agent's accounts of his back to 1793 all in connection with the debt of over £2,000 he owed the estate of the late Charles Powell Leslie I [see B/2].

There are letters to Leslie from and about James Nixon, his agent for both the Co. Monaghan and Pettigo estates, and also Paymaster to the Monaghan Militia of which Leslie was Colonel. These deal with estate matters, the Militia, Co. Monaghan politics and elections, and his relations with other landlords such as Dacre Hamilton, Edward Lucas and the Maddens of Hilton Park.

Estate papers, 1816-1829, mainly from the agent, Henry Radford, relate to his English estate of Snareston Hall. With a rental of over £1,000 in 1819 this estate had come into Leslie's possession via his first wife Anne Ryder. The other half of the estate, which was partitioned in 1796, passed to Leslie's neighbours, the Maddens, through the marriage of Anne Ryder's elder sister to Colonel Samuel Madden in 1781. [See the Madden Papers, PRONI, D3465/C/4 and D3465/F/31].

Leslie Papers

The Monaghan Militia

Two boxes of letters and papers, 1796-1819 and 1870, relate in detail to C.P. Leslie II as Colonel of the Monaghan Militia. These include his commissions as a J.P. for Co. Antrim and Co. Down, 1796 [when his regiment was first stationed in that part of Ireland], and as Governor of Co. Monaghan [jointly with the absentee Earl of Clermont], 1803. There are communications to Leslie, 1802-1817, from the 'War Office' Dublin Castle relating to the Additional Force Act of 1803, to all manner of militia business, to the raising of local corps of yeomanry, and to the increasing use of the Monaghan and all the other Irish militia regiments as a filter for recruitment to the line.

Leslie's militia papers could form the basis of a county case study because of their completeness for the period they cover [1802-1817]. Moreover, their material on 'soldiers' claims' and educational funds, throw light on the effect of warfare on 'ordinary' people's lives. The most interesting period, 1793-1898, when the Monaghan Militia were suspected of Defender infiltration, and, when stationed in the north, wrecked the Northern Star office in Belfast and fought at the Battle of Ballynahinch, is not represented. There is a painting of Leslie at the Battle of Ballynahinch [see 0/9]. Finally a much later document, dated 1870, is Quartermaster William Watson's history of the Monaghan Militia, 1793-1870.

Leslie Papers

Politics and elections

The political correspondence of Charles Powell Leslie II, 1801-1831, mainly concerns the by-election of 1801 at which he was first returned and the general election of 1802. Letters from the 11th Lord Blayney outline his political alliance with his brother- in-law, the 2nd Earl of Caledon and Blayney's determination to be M.P. for an English borough etc. Other correspondents include the Earl of Clermont, Richard Dawson, M.P for Co. Monaghan, [the Hon.] Fulke Greville Upton and Lord Templetown. There is a certificate of Leslie's election as a burgess of Monaghan corporation, together with a letter from the 2nd Lord Rossmore calling upon him to resign his burgesship, ostensibly on grounds of his non-attendance but actually because of their fierce political differences.

There are two letters, 1804 and 1812, to Leslie, from his cousin Richard Ryder, who was Home Secretary at the time of writing the second letter. The first reports that Pitt and Lord Hardwicke are well-disposed to give the first vacant deanery to Leslie's brother [John], whilst the second discusses at length Ryder's hostile views to Catholic Emancipation. Further letters to Leslie about his younger brother John concern the latter's advancement in the Church of Ireland. This is inextricably intertwined with the question of Leslie's political relations with his Wellesley cousins and with the government of the day. There is one letter from the Duke of Wellington about promotion for John Leslie in 1820. In that year, he became bishop of Elphin, although the Leslie family's real object had been the bishopric of Clogher [because of its influence in Co. Monaghan and because, as we have already seen, it was the see under which the Pettigo estate was held].

Other letters to Leslie about politics, come from Viscount Templetown and the Rev. John Rogers [Seceding Presbyterian minister] of Ballybay. The latter writes about concerns the Seceders and their annual allowance from the crown, and about Catholic Emancipation (to which Leslie and Rogers were opposed.) Letters and papers of 1824-1827 deal with the turbulent Co. Monaghan general election of 1826 in which Leslie was defeated by H.R. Westenra, son of the 2nd Lord Rossmore. Leslie put forward an unsuccessful petition to overturn the election on the basis of undue priestly influence arising from the intervention of Daniel O'Connell. The many correspondents include his running-mate, E.J. Shirley, Humphrey Evatt, and Lord Blayney. Further letters and papers of Leslie concern his continuing political differences with Lord Rossmore. There follows correspondence about Leslie's election, as a fall-back, for New Ross, Co. Wexford, and the 1830 Co. Monaghan election. Miscellaneous letters to Leslie and printed matter all relate to his membership of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and to other 'fraternal' societies.

Leslie Papers

Charles Powell Leslie III (1821-1871)

Correspondence, 1840-1871, of Charles Powell Leslie III includes some letters to and from his mother, Mrs Christiana Leslie and from his younger brother John [the future 1st Bt]. Letters between his mother and Charles are about the Co. Monaghan by- election at which he was elected following the death of [the 2nd] Lord Rossmore in 1842. Leslie's diaries record travel, parliamentary attendance in London, country house visits, home life, sport and local government in Co. Monaghan, etc. Papers on gardening include: a proposal for the layout of the kitchen garden at Castle Leslie by John Cox of Redleaf, Devon, 1854; lists of seeds, trees, etc. for Castle Leslie, 1856; and a printed account from the London-published Gardener's Record of Leslie's newly created walled garden at Castle Leslie, 1870.

There are letters and newspaper cuttings about Co. Monaghan elections, 1857-1866, including particular mention of election violence in 1865 etc. The last item is a letter from the 4th Marquess of Bath at Longleat to Leslie after the 1865 election in which many tenants voted against the landlord interest. He is going to put up rents by 10%: '... After the election and what took place then, ... we could no longer neglect to do so ... this rise does not affect the larger and more respectable tenants or at any rate the greater number of them and that increase will fall most heavily in general on those who misbehaved recently . . . '.

Letters of March 1858 between Leslie, Josephine Rossmore [wife of the 3rd Lord Rossmore], Mrs John Madden of Hilton Park and the Lord Lieutenant [the 13th Earl of] Eglinton deal with the imminent death of Lord Rossmore, Leslie's succession to him as Lieutenant of Co. Monaghan and John Madden's appointment to the majority of the Monaghan Militia. Correspondence of December 1869- January 1870 deals with Leslie's dismissal, under orders from Dublin Castle, of John Madden as a D.L. and J.R for Co. Monaghan. This was occasioned by Madden's letter to the Castle '... in which he has thought proper to use language of studied insult to the government of the Queen' [and by his infringing the Party Processions Act].

Leslie Papers

Lady Constance Leslie (1836-1925) and Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt (1822-1916)

The section begins with the letters and papers, 1844-1916, of Sir John Leslie 1st Bt, and of his sister Miss Julia Leslie. It includes John Leslie's illustrated journal of his Grand Tour, 1844-1848, [fully described, in the words of Seymour Leslie, in the Introduction]. There are letters to John Leslie and his wife, Constance, from C.P Leslie III written from Nice, Glaslough, Montreal, [New England?] and Government House, Calcutta. From Nice in 1853 he reports that the Duchess of Bedford is dying and asks that Sir Edwin Landseer [her lover] be informed. Landseer was a friend of John, Lady Constance and Julia Leslie. From Landseer come letters mainly to Miss Julia Leslie and to Sir John or Lady Constance, 1857-1859. Glued on to these letters, is correspondence of Sir Shane Leslie, with Sir Gerald Kelly and others, about Landseer, 1857-1859, together with notes by Sir Shane relating to Landseer.

In 1856, C.P Leslie III discusses his plans for a new house to cost £16,000: '...The more I see of this country, the more persuaded I am that it is not at all necessary to have anything but comfort in a house: many rooms is a mistake'. In 1861, from Montreal, he expresses his wish to see some of the slave estates, and the view that the war-mongering Yankees may well fight England. The letter of 1864, which discusses the American Civil War, also mentions that he is accompanied by [Lord] Hartington and that they '... get on very well together, both being rather indolent in our dispositions'.

Four letters to John Leslie from his younger brother, Colonel Thomas Slingsby [who had assumed that surname on marrying the heiress to Scriven Park and Red House, Yorkshire and who later much disappointed the Leslie family by leaving most of his money to his nephew, Lord Delaval Beresford, a rancher in Texas]. The letter of 1854 describes at length Slingsby's Crimean War experiences [which included being pipped to the post by Capt. Nolan in delivering the fatal message to the Light Brigade!].

A scrapbook, 1865-1899, of John Leslie mainly containing his sketches, includes some water-colour sketches of a projected [and abandoned] Jacobean-style Castle Leslie. There are MS drafts of his election addresses (including one from the election he lost in 1880) etc. Letters of condolence to John Leslie on the death of his elder brother, Charles Powell Leslie III in 1871 are associated with papers about the subscription (of £508) raised to erect in his memory the bust of him set over a drinking font in Glaslough village. From the same year, there are letters to John Leslie about his (successful) candidature to fill the vacancy in the Monaghan representation occasioned by his brother's death. An 1873 letter to John Leslie, from the noted antiquarian scholar Dean (later Bishop) William Reeves provides fairly detailed information about Leslie family history.

There are letters to John Leslie [from 1876 Sir John Leslie 1st Bt] from his son John [the future 2nd Bt]. A letter of 1884 from the second Sir John's recently married wife, Leonie [Jerome] expresses regret that she has been the means of estranging him

Leslie Papers

from his parents. The son also writes from South Africa and refers to the deputy lieutenancy which he has received and the colonelcy of the Monaghan Militia which he seeks. Among letters to Sir John Leslie 1st Bt, from his daughters is one long letter from Constance-Christina [Mrs Edward Stanley Hope] who writes from Government House, Calcutta, on December 1890 providing a detailed description of life at the Court of the Viceroy, Lord Lansdowne.

Correspondence, 1876-1910, of Sir John Leslie 1st Bt and his successive agents etc., is mainly about Glaslough estate and business affairs and his purchases in Italy. On the last he writes '... I have bought some pieces of furniture here, some of them rather large, for the new house at Glaslough [which he always calls 'Glaslough House', not Castle Leslie]. He deals with local Church of Ireland affairs, particularly the enlargement and general restoration of St Salvator's, Donagh [in the Castle Leslie demesne] in 1888 and 1891 and the good relations between the Leslie family and the local Roman Catholic clergy.

Letters and papers about the Pettigo estate also reveal good relations with the local Roman Catholic clergy especially the Rev. James McKenna of Pettigo [who later became Bishop of Clogher]. Newspaper cuttings, drafts in the handwriting of Sir John Leslie 1st Bt, extracts from Hansard etc., relate to his political involvement. Correspondence and printed matter, October-December 1883, concerns the Roslea incident following which [the 5th] Lord Rossmore was dismissed from the Co. Monaghan commission of the peace for his leading role in breaking up an Irish National League meeting. Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt, unsuccessfully attempted to 'go out in sympathy' by getting himself dismissed from his county offices as well. A.B. Cooke, writing about Sir John's involvement in this, says that at Rosslea he called for 'a distinct Protestant party in parliament'.

A letter to the agent, Mr Cunningham, from Julia Leslie [1872-1873?] comments acerbically:

'... Poor John lets himself be so completely governed by the lady [Lady Constance] whose caprice has no beginning or end that there is nothing to do but leave them to themselves. One thing is that everyone who knows her must see the impossibility of getting on with her, so I do not feel myself to blame. They make themselves more unhappy than they do other people. ...'

This is in keeping with other information about Lady Constance and her relations with the Leslies, which were not always smooth.

Finally, there are letters and papers about the death and funeral of Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt, in 1916.

Leslie Papers

Lady Constance Leslie's ancestry

The archive houses letters and papers, 1780-1864, of the parents of Lady Constance Leslie, Colonel the Hon. George Lionel Dawson Damer (17881856) and Mary Georgiana Emma ('Minnie') Seymour (1798-1848). Also included are those of other connections of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford, and the Dawson Damer family, Earls of Portarlington.

The focus of the section is the courtship of the parents of Lady Constance, which was long and difficult in the face of the opposition from King George IV and most especially of his morganatic wife Mrs Fitzherbert, Minnie's guardian. There were rumours that Minnie was the daughter of Mrs Fitzherbert and the King. A volume of MS copies in the handwriting of Sir Shane Leslie replicates correspondence between George Dawson Damer and his wife Minnie from 1820-1835. The letters mostly concern the prolonged and vexed romance of the correspondents (who had first met in 1819).

Mrs Fitzherbert opposed the match because (as Anita Leslie records in Mrs Fitzherbert [London, 19601) she regarded George Dawson as '... quite the wrong man ... a fiery young cavalry officer who suffered the bad luck of being the younger son of an Irish earl [the 2nd Earl of Portarlington]. ... Neither Mrs Fitzherbert nor George IV who, watching the dowry he had granted increase to £20,000, had ... [any] wish to see it handed over to a penniless soldier ... Their precious Minnie had been raised to make a spectacular marriage.'

The couple, who were eventually married on 20 August 1825 despite the objections of the King and Mrs. Fitzherbert who had cut George Dawson out of Minnie's settlement and imposed a series of long separations. There is also correspondence between George Damer and his wife Minnie, 1830-1841, endorsed by Lady Constance Leslie, 'Selected letters from Mama to Papa, full of the feelings and characteristics I wish I had more fully inherited ... 15 April 1870'.

Leslie Papers

Lady Constance's own papers

The five boxes of papers, 1840-1925, of Lady Constance Leslie begin with letters from her parents c.1840-1850. There follows correspondence between Lady Constance and her brother Seymour Dawson-Damer, 1843-1886. On Seymour's succeeding their uncle as 4th Earl of Portarlington in March 1889, her sisters and she were raised to the rank of daughters of an earl. Seymour's letters tell of his experiences in the Crimean War. There is a pocket engagement diary kept by Lady Constance in 1854, the year of her coming out. This is put together with her later recollections, c.1895-1900, of the changes in social life which she had witnessed over the half-century of Queen Victoria's reign, and undated notes in her handwriting on the history of her mother's family the Seymour-Conways, Marquesses of Hertford.

An envelope of small snapshots of Lady Constance and Sir John at various ages and stages, c.1856-1906, is complemented by his letters to her, 1857-1901. These are mainly jocular and charming descriptions of what he is up to, anecdotes of 'characters' on the estate, artistic matters, House of Commons business, etc. Later in 1877-1878 he is frequently at Glaslough on his own supervising and commenting on the building and furnishing of the new house.

Leslie Papers

The Co. Monaghan election of 1880

However, a sour note enters Sir John's correspondence of March-April 1880 when he gives a detailed and vivid account of his canvass and defeat in the Co. Monaghan election. This culminates in a letter of 12 April:

'... The whole of my election turned upon the old principle of R. Catholics against Protestants, and if one party had remained true to the cause, I had won in spite of fifty Tenant Right Bills. But the Presbyterians are more radical than ever since the passing of the Land Act and Church Act, and consented to go with the priests for the first time in the history of elections in this county.'

This is echoed in letters from his son John [later 2nd Bt],

'So much for the gratitude of the County Monaghan! They have turned out good men and have chosen bad, and bitterly may they repent it. ... Such is the terrible power possessed by these horrible priests. When they introduce a lowered franchise, I don't see how the county is ever to be won back again. The sooner Pa gets back to you the better. He is terribly down on his luck and, while he remains here, he is not likely to recover himself. The whole place is a scene of mourning and desolation ...'

Leslie Papers

Courtship and the Covenant

Her son's letters, 1884-1885, to Lady Constance allude (not very explicitly, in view of family opposition) to his engagement and marriage to Leonie Jerome. In a much later letter of 24 September 1912 from Glaslough during the Home Rule crisis he comments,

'We are taking a very serious step in taking the Covenant, in which we pledge ourselves virtually to resist the law. As Pa's estate is entirely separate from the rest, perhaps it would be well if he remains neutral and that his estate, in the event of reprisals by the government, may remain intact. ... The Enniskillen meeting took place on the finest day of the year - very stirring and warlike. All of our part of Ireland attended, so we need not hear the same thing again at Belfast. ...'

Leslie Papers

Miscellaneous family correspondence

Other correspondents of Lady Constance include various female family members and friends. Among these is her first cousin, Charlotte Frances Spencer [née Seymourl wife of the [5th] Earl Spencer, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A letter from Lady Spencer, of 22 August 1881, is endorsed by Lady Constance: 'From Charlotte with her opinion on Parnellites in 1881, whom she entertained at Spencer House'. There are letters to Lady Constance from her daughters, Mary Crawshay (1858-1936), Constance- Christina ('Consie') Hope (1861-1945), 'Dosia' [Theodosia] Bagot (1865-1940), Olive Louisa Blanche Walter Murray Guthrie (1872-1945). They all married into the elites of Westminster and the City. Five letters to Lady Constance from Leonie Leslie, c.1900- 1917, concern her sons and other family news, as well as memorials in Glaslough church to Sir John, 1st Bt, and Norman Leslie.

Leslie Papers

Mainly political correspondence

Lady Constance carried on correspondence, 1880-1888, with Mrs J.E. Wood-Wright a widow of Golagh, Monaghan. Mrs Wood-Wright's letters include expressions of strong Conservative, landlord and anti-Home Rule sentiments, complaints that the labourers on her property have betrayed her etc. Mrs Wood-Wright, who lived in rusticated seclusion, was the recipient of many entertaining descriptions by Lady Constance of London high life. There are letters to Lady Constance from other local worthies, 1876-1916, including Cornelia Pinchin of the Hibernian Bank, Monaghan, who writes about the case of a [Glaslough?] boy called McMahon who lived with her, was bitten by a mad dog and was sent by Lady Constance to Pasteur (1887).

Miscellaneous personal correspondence of Lady Constance includes: a letter from the 3rd Earl of Bradford in 1881, expressing dismay at Lord Spencer's conduct as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. '... I am struck by what you say about John's Orange proclivities. All my early life I had no sympathy with the Orangemen - rather the reverse - but I am now inclined to think they are the only possible saviours of Ireland and that they should be supported in their fight against priestcraft. ...'. A much later letter from E.H.J. Leslie describes the burning of his house, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, 1921.

Leslie Papers

Sir Shane's 'Grangerising' of Lady Constance

Sir Shane Leslie has collated in book form Lady Constance memorabilia, 1866-1944, including: newspaper obituaries of 1925, and returned originals of letters from her to miscellaneous correspondents. A similar volume of pasted-in 'Letters to Lady Constance Leslie and Sir John Leslie 1st Bt, 1859-1916' arranged by Shane Leslie, 1943, includes an illuminating letter from Dudley Majoribanks (Lord Tweedmouth) about the building of the proposed new Castle Leslie in 1873. There is a printed copy of a limited edition of Thackeray's letters published in 1887 in the margins of which Lady Constance has written numerous comments. These reflect her friendship with Thackeray. Sir Shane has placed in Lady Constance's copy of My Recollections by the Countess of Cardigan and Lancaster (London, 1909) - of whom and of which she disapproved [see the Introduction], her letter to him of 10 February 1915. She writes 'When you asked me to make a few notes on this book, I only consented so as to clear up various untrue and unkind stories relating to dear friends of your grandfather's and mine'.

Leslie Papers

L. Leonie Leslie, Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt, Moreton Frewen and the Jerome connection

There are four boxes of letters and papers, 1865-1943, of Leonie Leslie (née Jerome), her husband, Colonel Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt, and her brother-in-law, Moreton Frewen.

Three early letters from Leonie Jerome/Leslie to her mother, Clara Hall Jerome, describe London society life, the attentions of suitors anterior to John Leslie, motherhood, pregnancy, problems with nurses etc. Correspondence between Leonie and her sister Clara Frewen, 1879-1914, includes letters, c.1912-1914, from Leonie which refer to UVF drilling and the possibility of armed resistance to Home Rule.

Letters, 1883c.1890, between John Leslie and his fiancée/wife, Leonie include a frosty letter of 5 September 1884 to her father Leonard Jerome from Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt: 'I believe that my son has sailed for America with the expressed intention of offering marriage to your daughter. As he is acting entirely in opposition to my desire and without my [permission?], I am in absolute possession of my estates.' Also included is an envelope of newspaper cuttings about the wedding, October 1884. Many of the letters to Leonie from John Leslie [who succeeded as Sir John, 2nd Bt, in 1916] are from his army postings during the Boer War and later [c.1914-1918] from Enniskillen, Finner Camp (Ballyshannon), Glaslough, etc, and comment on the activities of Sinn Fein, Partition, the 1916 Rising, etc.

Sir Shane has assembled miscellaneous news cuttings and notes, 1886-1947, on the Jerome family and a nine-page typescript of copies from Winston Churchill's letters, 1888-1916, and 1952 to Leonie Leslie, to his mother Jennie, to Murray and Olive Guthrie etc., together with an anecdote about Jennie, Leonie and the Prince of Wales. [Edward VII].

Letters to Leonie Leslie from her sister-in-law Mary ('Mamie') Crawshay include one [c.1905?] expressing the view that 'Father M.' though a Home Ruler 'of course' is not a prosleytiser and not a bad influence on 'Jacky' [ie Shane]. Another discusses Sir Shane's conversion [1908?]. Shane's Aunt Olive [Guthrie] in a letter of 1903 to Leonie relays Provost Mahaffy's suggestion that 'Jackie [ie Shane]' should go to T.C.D., where he would probably lay the foundation of becoming its future M.P. In 1914 she observes to him: '... We are such old friends, I feel sure you will forgive my suggesting we should not mention politics at all. ... I am heart and soul in the Ulster cause and am taking a considerable part in it. I have collected £6,000 guarantees myself for our hospital system. ...'

Leonie Leslie has placed letters, 1905-1914, to her from her son Norman in a black leather, quarto album. These are, mainly, from Malta, Egypt and Calcutta before World War 1. There are news cuttings and letters of sympathy on his death in action in October 1914, including letters from Sir Shane reflecting in a more general vein on the war, the trenches, war-graves etc.

Leslie Papers

Royal associations

This section contains material reflecting the close relations of the Leslies with members of the Royal Family, especially that of Leonie with the Duke of Connaught. There is also the 1902-1903 diary kept by Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt, when the Leslies accompanied the Duke and Duchess of Connaught to the Coronation Durbar in Delhi and elsewhere in India.

In an album, 1902-1958, used by Leonie and Sir Shane to house communications from the Connaughts and other 'royals' etc., Sir Shane has also inserted his correspondence with the Duke of Windsor. In November 1945, inviting him to undertake a private visit to Ireland, he expresses the hope that this could lead to H.R.H establishing 'a permanent residence from which you would be in a unique position to study the Anglo-lrish question, Partition, the rights or wrongs on both sides, and to bring that experience to bear on Irish America and the Irish throughout the Empire as no ambassador or statesman possibly could ... I am myself a Catholic but I am a royalist'

Appropriately, in the bedroom which the Duke of Connaught occupied when he stayed in Castle Leslie, is Leonie's copy of Sir George Aston's His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn: a Life and Intimate Study (London, 1929) in the fly-leaves of which she wrote: 'Amusing for what it had to leave out!!' Absent from the archive is the correspondence generated by over forty years friendship between the Duke and Leonie. The Duke wrote letters to her almost every day beginning 'Beloved Leo' or 'Dearest One' and signed 'Arthur' or 'Pat'. Several hundred of the Duke's letters were handed by Leonie's son Seymour to King George VI who placed them under seal until 1993 in the Royal Archives, Windsor. Lady Leslie's letters to the Duke were destroyed by his representatives after his death.

Among letters and papers, 1951-1969, of Anita Leslie are some about her Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill (London, 1969). There are letters from Winston Churchill to the Leslies and Moreton Frewen and copies by Sir Shane of two letters to the Duke of Connaught from his brother, Edward VII, February and March 1906, asking him to tell Leonie Leslie that her nephew [Winston] Churchill is a 'young blackguard' and 'young upstart' whose ungentlemanly attacks on Lord Milner show that he has forgotten that he is now a member of the government.

Also present is an album, into which Leonie Leslie has stuck photographs, redolent of Edwardian high summers, taken on board [her cousin?] Alison Armour's yacht the 'Utowana' off Cowes, Osborne etc., in 1909. On board are the Duke of Connaught, Mrs Jordan Mott ('Kitty'), owner of the Ritz Carlton Hotel [another cousin], and others. The album contains four letters to Leonic from the Duke, one of them about Shane's conversion in 1908.

Leslie Papers

Very miscellaneous family letters

Letters, 1902-1921, between Leonie Leslie and her brother-in-law Moreton Frewen are about family, financial and political matters. On Leonie's relations with Frewen, Seymour Leslie has commented 'She hated him!' Letters to John and Leonie Leslie from Shane, describe his visit to Moscow in December 1907, his conversations with Leo Tolstoy, etc., and his unsuccessful candidature for Derry City in 1910. His letters from Washington refer to the recall of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice as British Ambassador in 1918.

Letters to Leonie Leslie from her daughter-in-law Marjorie and from her father, Henry Clay Ide, from St Johnsbury, Vermont, in 1916 include a draft of a letter [of c.19161 from Leonie to Ide about the parlous financial state of the Leslie family. One of Marjorie's letters describes the burning of Castle Shane, Co. Monaghan, in [1921?].

Leslie Papers

Things I Can Tell

A printed copy of the 5th Lord Rossmore's Things I Can Tell (London, 1912) has been annotated by various members of the Leslie family strongly criticising Rossmore for the indiscreet or inaccurate statements in the book. With it is a letter of 1912 from Rossmore to Lady Constance endeavouring to explain that what he wrote in the book about George Damer had been misapprehended.

Leslie Papers

'Mortal ruin'

A box of letters and papers relates to Moreton Frewen (1853-1924) of Brede Place, Sussex and Inishannon, Bandon, Co. Cork, Vice-President of the Imperial Federation League and husband of Clara Jerome, Leonie Leslie's sister. Most of them were collected at Castle Leslie by Sir Shane Leslie, in connection with his 'Memoir' of Moreton Frewen which seems not to have been published. There is a carbon, typescript copy of probably the final draft [c.1956?]. Sir Shane's daughter, Anita, however, did publish Mr Frewen of England which drew on these papers and on Sir Shane's researches. Frewen was involved with the Nationalist politicians William O'Brien and Tim Healy in trying to bring about a solution of the Irish question within the parameters of British Federalism. He considered the Irish Convention of 1917 a missed opportunity to achieve this.

Frewen was a bimetallist and was involved in a number of disastrous investment schemes in Kenya, West Africa, Canada and a ranch in Wyoming which lost a lot of money belonging to Frewen and others he had persuaded to invest, including Sir Horace Plunkett. Frewen's letters contain forthright views on economics, politics, and especially the Irish Question. His comments on the 1916 Easter Rising are characteristically outspoken:

'The men who were executed were men who were in open alliance with Germany and opening the ports of Ireland to armed invaders with thousands of spare machine guns. There was a worthless rascal shot, outside the law, one Skeffington, a Larkinite traitor who had been jailed by the Civil Authority and had 'broke jail' and defeated the laws he had outraged by hungerstriking! The half dozen chiefs of this most vile rebellion were shot.'

Leslie Papers

M. Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Bt, and his successive wives, Marjorie and Iris

The correspondence, 1894-1958, between Sir Shane Leslie 3rd Bt and his parents, grandparents, wife (Marjorie) and siblings begin with letters, 1894-1941, from his father, Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt.

The following selection provides an excellent synopsis of Sir John's private views of events which were in effect the dénouement of all that had gone before in Leslie and Irish history. It begins in the wake of his son Norman's death in action.

'I am glad you are going out [to France] you will be most useful with your newly acquired knowledge I am so proud of dear Norman's pen as of his sword ... [Nov. 1914]; '...The war drags on forever but the Irish have given up enlisting. ... Party feeling is as rife as before the war...', 13 February 1916; '... Ireland is quiet and martial law has been dropped for months though it has not been officially withdrawn ... there has never been a rebellion put down so mildly before. ... As to Capt. Colthurst, rebels must take their chance of some such fanatic appearing. Their own proceedings of killing and ambushing soldiers and police deserved some such retribution as the death without trial of the late Sheehy Skeffington – my friend the Countess Markovitch [sic] who massacred the Dublin police with her own fair hands is doing nothing for her sins beyond a little fancy sewing in detention and will doubtless be enlarged in due time and resume her jig dancing. ...

It must be her [Ireland's] interest to belong to the greatest and most justly ruled Empire in the world ... The harm of hatred and discontent is engendered from the day that those delightful little children whose heads we pat in the cottages are handed over to the Nationalist schoolmaster who educates them to hate their benefactor England ... If H.R. [Home Rule] ever comes I shall leave the country and live in Brighton. ...', 27 October 1916; 'The whole country is mad - Sinn Fein has taken root over the land ... What you see to admire in this nation of blackguards is still a mystery to me ...', 2 August 1917; '... Of course the war is as good as over now the Fenian Regt. has taken the field!'

... The priesthood mean to have their way with a settlement. They want restitution. This would mean the exit of the Leslies from the land of the MacKenna and Magrath! I should become a Scotchman [sic] again, 10 September 1917 ...' In a much later letter he writes to Sir Shane, in relation to St Patrick's Purgatory '... it is important to know for certain if you are coming in August on account of a deed requiring your signature, the deed releasing the Station Island [Lough Derg] and ferry to the Prior.'

Leslie Papers

Letters to Sir Shane from his mother and grandmother

Letters, 1921-1943, from Leonie Leslie to Sir Shane, include references to her visit to Armentieres where her son Norman, was killed in October 1914; events in Ireland; Sir Shane's writings, etc.

Letters, 1900-1919, from Lady Constance to her grandson Sir Shane relate news and events including the death of her husband, Sir John Leslie 1st Bt: '... I am miserably unhappy without him.... I felt of late years more like a mother to him than a wife ... but it is only natural I should be lonely without my 60 years' companion ...' 23 February 1916. However, family lore is that she kept a large permanent flower arrangement on the dinner table, between herself and her husband, which she called 'cache-mari' ('hide~husband').

Leslie Papers

Letters from Seymour Leslie

Seymour Leslie wrote many letters, 1902-1955, to his brother, Sir Shane. These extracts begin during the Great War:

'... The opinion here is contemptuous of U.S.A .... The old illusions as to American "cousinship" have disappeared and ... The US in non grata everywhere. It is pacifically weak as it is militarily impotent ... ', 16 July 1916; '... I thought the crowd cheering at the execution [Sir Roger Casement] most disgraceful. I still think that however just, it was unwise. We want to contrast with the Huns ...' 4 August 1916; '... The electric light was switched on at Glaslough last week for the first time. Interesting discoveries of Old Masters and priceless books soon followed in consequence ... ', 14 September 1916; '... The Provost of T.C.D [Mahaffy] is at Glaslough ... indignant about the release of S.F. prisoners (so also is one Jas. Vogan [Glaslough gamekeeper]) "Man. I'm telling ye we'll be killed in our beds this night so we will"...'

[On the victory celebrations November 1918:] ' ...The planet rocks with delirious joy ... The supreme moment of history ... the greatest psychic experience in a thousand million lives ... everyone delirious and waving small flags ... went down the Mall to Nelson's column where the scenes were indescribable ... lunched at the Ritz and generals were carried shoulder high around the restaurant ... stupendous and unutterable moments ... ; [on the influenza pandemic]'... everyone ill, many dying of the double pneumonia, slump and depression everywhere after all the efforts .... 11 December 1918; [on partition] '... It is really pathetic that the Irish Unionists with so many good men amongst them should remain so Tory and disloyal to the island they live in. I regard their case as hopeless, like that of the New England Tories...', 20 February 1920.

Leslie Papers

Correspondence between Sir Shane and Marjorie, Lady Leslie

Correspondence,1911-1951, between Sir Shane and his wife, Marjorie Leslie (née Ide), includes a letter, 12 January 1912, providing a brief outline of his North American pedigree and one in which he proposes to Marjorie, 10 February 1912. There is an envelope of poignant letters from Sir Shane to Marjorie in the wake of Norman's death:

'... Poor Norman's memorial service was held today ... the French and Russian ambassadors both attended and Sir Edward and Lady Carson ... It gave Mother great happiness... ', 26 October 1914; '... I have spent three days with Norman's old regiment. His grave is only a mile from their trenches. I had Norman placed in a coffin and put back in the grave whence his regiment buried him ... may he rest in peace... ', 20 December 1914; '... while actually praying on dear Norman's grave I saw a battle ... the sound was like a thunderstorm which could not thunder itself out... ', 21 December 1914.

A letter from Sir Shane Leslie to Marjorie includes a reference to the future Prince Phillip, '... I understand that Phillip, son of our old friend Andrew of Greece, is being groomed for Prince Consort, but the men think nothing of him ...' 9 September 1946. Sir Shane refers to his brother, Seymour Leslie, having been '... received by the King [George VI] and delivered the tin boxes of Ma's letters from the Duke of Connaught .... The Royal family are most interested in the letters as they contain so much intimate detail about themselves ... ', 21 March 1946.

Correspondence, 1924-1972, between Sir Shane Leslie and Marjorie, and with their children, Anita, John and Desmond, includes letters to Anita from her cousin Clare Sheridan. In one she refers to her work of sculpting a bust of their mutual cousin, the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill:' ... it's uphill work and very exhausting because he never gives me a chance. Always that blasted cigar in his mouth which twists his face. He's promised however to be good next week and to give me a whole half hour's full attention....' Clare Sheridan the artist, sculptor and journalist, led an adventurous and productive life, in which she sketched and modelled the heads of many famous people. She travelled extensively in America, Greece, Turkey, Algeria and the fledgling Soviet Union. Her sympathetic depiction of the Bolshevik leaders greatly offended her cousin, Winston Churchill. She settled in Galway at the Spanish Arch.

Letters from Sir John Leslie, 4th Bt, to his father, Sir Shane Leslie, c.1920s-1954, include some written as a prisoner of war in Germany, '... I am so very sorry to hear that my being posted as missing caused so much trouble. Among the 1,200 officers here there are some good lecturers on Art and History ... About a hundred Irish Guardsmen were captured, but they are all at another camp except for one... ', 3 September 1940.

Leslie Papers

Papers of Marjorie, Lady Leslie

Marjorie Leslie (née Ide) has left diaries, 1901-1942, and her own 'Grangerised' copies of her book, Girlhood in the Pacific. Marjorie's father, Henry Clay Ide, an American judge and diplomat served as Chief Justice of Samoa, Governor of the Philippine Islands and Ambassador to Madrid. She accompanied her father on all these postings and has left us a record of her various journeys and of her experiences. There are many photographs and other mementoes attached including a manuscript poem penned and written by Robert Louis Stevenson, one of Samoa's most famous ex-patriate residents, to Marjorie Leslie's sister, Anne, Mrs Bourke Cockran. There is a typescript copy of an article by Marjorie Leslie entitled 'I knew Stevenson in Samoa'. Also included are two pages from Marjorie's diary for 1914 which relate Shane Leslie's escape from Ostend during the first weeks of the Great War: '... the greatest battle of the world's history is in progress ... Kyrie eleison!', 23 August 1914.

An envelope of nine letters from Henry C. Ide to Sir Shane Leslie, 1912-1920, includes: one expressing approval of his engagement to Marjorie, 30 March 1912; and another informing Sir Shane that: '... Marjorie will be greatly delighted and honoured at receiving, on her marriage, the historic jewelled ring which marked the romance of George IV and Mrs Fitzherbert ... '. There are genealogical notes, c.1920, on the Ide family, who originally settled in Braintree, Massachuetts in 1636, and the same on the Newman and Paine families.

Leslie Papers

Iris Carola, Lady Leslie

Iris Carola, Sir Shane's second wife, has made a folder of typescript copies of letters, 1926-1939, from Sir Shane Leslie to his close friend Mrs May Hawkes. Iris Leslie provides us with an informative introduction about Mrs Hawkes who was interned at Biarritz in one of the hotels, at the time of the German occupation. She became ill and died and is buried there. All Sir Shane's letters had been carefully kept by her. These letters would be essential for a study of Sir Shane during those years. Iris Leslie's own correspondence, 1971-1984, is also present.

Leslie Papers

Correspondence with the Frewens

Included in correspondence, 1897-1959, of Sir Shane Leslie with his cousins and miscellaneous relations etc. are letters from Clare Sheridan (née Frewen), his cousin, including one in which Clare discusses her conversion to Catholicism, 1946. Also included are three undated pages of brief biographical notes of Clara Frewen. There are five letters from Ruby Carson (née Frewen, Lord Carson's second wife) to Sir Shane Leslie, 1943-1949, one of which concerns Ned (her son, the Hon. Edward Carson) getting into Parliament, and two letters, 1940-1944, from Sir Winston Churchill.

Leslie Papers

Miscellaneous correspondence

Miscellaneous correspondence, 1894-1972, of Sir Shane Leslie includes: a letter in which he describes his discovery of his brother, Norman's, body on the battlefield, France, 1914; two letters from Sir Horace Plunkett about Moreton Frewen's long- running quarrel with him and sending '... photos of Kilteragh ... all my personal belongings ... are in the ash heap ... ', 1923. Other correspondents include the Duke of Alba, Spanish ambassador to Great Britain, Sean T. O'Kelly, President of Ireland, Sean Lemass, and the Duke of Wellington. There are letters of congratulations to Sir Shane on his marriage to Iris Carola (née Laing) in 1958 and a letter from Sir Norman Stronge of nearby Tynan Abbey, Co. Armagh, Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons, and neighbour of Sir Shane, in which he laments the closing of the Tynan-Glaslough railway line, 26 June 1958. Finally, there is an envelope of telegrams, mass cards, and letters of sympathy, etc, to various Leslie family members on the death of Sir Shane, 13 August 1971. Included are three copies of Sir Shane's death certificate.

Miscellaneous correspondence, 1900-1950, of Marjorie Leslie includes: copies of letters from Henry James, 22 September 1914, and Wallis Simpson, 23 May 1936; and letters, 1939-1947, from the Duke of Alba, her erstwhile admirer; '... In Spain we always knew that Russia was the enemy of all civilization. Now she has proved it beyond doubt, and trust that people here will now open their eyes and realise what we fought for in Spain ... don't forget that anything you see in the English press about Spain should be taken with quite a large pinch of salt!' (11 December 1939).

Amongst ephemera, 1914-1950, is a small visitors' book, 1930, for West End Cottage, Bendish, Herts., which includes anecdotes, signatures, sketches and photographs, etc. of members of the Leslie family and friends, including Prince Pierre de Monaco. Included are photographs of the youthful Prince Rainier of Monaco. Notebooks record Sir Shane's service in the London Home Guard, 1940-1944. He kept watch in the West End.

Leslie Papers

N. Norman Leslie Two boxes of correspondence, writings, diaries and memorabilia, 1899-1914, of Norman Leslie include a letter from Lord Carmichael, Governor of Madras, in which he refers to the rumour of a scandal involving Norman and a young lady. This was not his only such entanglement. A folder of letters to and from Norman Leslie details the celebrated duel Norman fought with Yusoury Pasha in Paris in 1910, after being discovered in an assignation in Cairo with Yusoury's wife. As duelling was forbidden in the British army, Norman risked the loss of his commission. Not to do so would have meant losing respect among the Egyptians. The Duke of Connaught intervened. A committee consisting of Lord Cromer, Lord Charles Beresford Norman Leslie and Sir Ernest Cassel advised Norman that it would be safe to proceed with the duel if no word appeared in the newspapers. After Norman underwent tuition with a French fencing master, it was arranged that the duel would be fought in Paris. Technically Norman drew first blood, but the duel continued for 40 minutes eventually ending when Norman received a hand wound. He returned to Cairo to convalesce, having given an undertaking not to communicate with the princess, except through her husband, Yusoury Pasha. Norman's duelling epées are at present held in the muniment room at Castle Leslie.

Other letters and photographs derive from Norman's military career in Egypt and India and describe life, society, etc., and his passion for travel and big game shooting. Norman's letters to his mother from the Western Front describe his crossing to France, trench conditions, casualties etc: September 28th 'Dear Ma - a line in case we advance at a minute's notice ... a hail of shrapnel. I've twice bolted to cover writing this letter! Just beginning to get cold at night what fun it will be in November lying with our Mackintosh in a frozen turnip field!... '.

Norman Leslie's war diary, August-October 1914, retrieved from the battlefield, describes vividly the first two months of World War I.

' ... 23 Sept. ... I was just sitting down to breakfast when another man was sniped clean through the head, stone dead ... we are burying him now ... Sept. 25... A bugler in 'C' went mad, dashed back in a panic in the middle shouting the retire ... court martialled and only got 18 months ... Sgt O. Mackenzie actually failed to parade, saying he thought it was too dangerous ... reduced to ranks and six months - he ought to have been shot ... 28 Sept. ... The General and Green (Bde Major) came round again ... in vain our fellows told them not to show themselves Green stood well up and surveyed their trenches, crash, and the German sniper, whom our men know but too well, alas, put a bullet through his shoulder and lungs, he died in 20 minutes and with him went the best officer and brains of this brigade - it's sickening, far better if the General had been hit ...

Midday 10 Oct. Came and found us still crawling along – we reached Amiens about 1.0 and by the most devilish mismanagement and slackness on the part of our brigade and our regimental staff, found no arrangements for food or water or anything ... Oct. 13th'... at 9.30 we halted and told to prepare to attack any moment ...

Leslie Papers

I was never colder in my life – had been up to my waist in the stream for 4 hours spent a miserable rainy night till dawn (17th Oct) I was woke at 4.00 am and got orders. The battalion marched away ... in the direction of Armentières ... all the inhabitants here are in a wild state of excitement, welcomed us with open arms and showered all with hot coffee and food.'

Norman Leslie's diary ends there. He was killed near Armentières on 18 October 1914. Also included is a letter evidently to his father which was found with his kit in his cigarette case: '... There's so much to write and so little time you'll have to wait for most of it at the end of the war in my diary ...'.

Norman Leslie memorabilia, 1914-1915, collected and arranged by Sir Shane, include: letters from Sir Shane to his parents informing them that he had located Norman's grave and that he had placed his body in a coffin with a view to its subsequent identification and removal to Glaslough, after the war; a letter from [Mrs] Zoe Farquharson to Shane thanking him for his support and the sympathy he gave her at the time of Norman's death; newspaper cuttings concerning Norman's death, and a transcript of part of a letter which Norman wrote on the eve of the declaration of war: ' ....Future generations cannot be allowed to read the decline of the British Empire and attribute it to us. ... Some will live and many will die but count the loss not. It is far better to got out with honour than to survive with shame ....'. [This is inscribed on the frame of the portrait of Norman hanging on the stairs at Castle Leslie.] Also included is a photograph of Norman Leslie and his manuscript autobiographical notes, 1897-1913.

Leslie Papers

O. Newspaper cuttings

Sir John Leslie, 4th Bt, recalls that his father Sir Shane almost invariably had a pair of scissors and a glue pot in his hands. The effects of this are to be seen in many albums, scrapbooks and copies of printed books at Castle Leslie. Among these are: a large cuttings book of Lady Constance containing letters, newspaper cuttings, poems, watercolours, sketches, Leslie and Damer family genealogical writings, memorabilia, photographs and pamphlets, etc.; a scrapbook containing drawings by Sir John Leslie, 1st Bt, 1848-1891, collected by his wife Lady Constance and indexed by Sir Shane; various sketchbooks contain watercolours and sketches by Sir John, 1st Bt, Sir John, 2nd Bt, and Sir Shane. To say the least, Sir Shane's cuttings and stickings have complicated the archive and the work of the archivist.

A large red sketch book contains a series of sketches, watercolours and pastels by Sir John 1st Bt, commemorating notable events in the lives of various Leslie family members. Included is a painting of Charles Powell Leslie II at the Battle of Ballynahinch, 1798. There are scrap books devoted to Leonie Leslie, Marjorie Leslie (mainly pertaining to Girlhood in the Pacific and articles by her on Robert Louis Stevenson) and to her sister, Anne Bourke Cockran.

There are reviews of the various works of Anita Leslie, the writer daughter of Sir Shane and Marjorie. Other volumes contain letters by Sir Shane and reviews of his books, as well as articles relating to his candidature as a Nationalist for the December 1910 Derry City election against Lord Hamilton which Sir Shane lost by 57 votes. A newspaper cuttings book, with an index, contains articles mostly reflecting Sir Shane's interest in the paranormal. Other scrapbooks and newspaper cuttings books cover a multitude of events and subjects, mainly arising from the widespread interests of Sir Shane.

Leslie Papers

P. Photographs

This section has 38 sub-sections, mainly albums or cuttings books, which date back to the 1850s. Starting with Bishop John Leslie, these photographs depict the Leslie family and their friends and acquaintances in a world in which the Leslies rubbed shoulders, and more, with the elite of the last 150 years whose images are here portrayed. There are topographical photos from all parts of Ireland and from the various Leslie properties. Events portrayed range from family weddings, wedding anniversary gatherings, funerals, holidays and tours abroad, to political events such as UVF drilling in Monaghan and central Dublin in ruins after the 1916 Easter Rising. There is a very comprehensive PRONI listing of the thousands of photographs.

Leslie Papers

Q. Sir Shane Leslie's autograph and letter books

This section is mainly of interest to autograph collectors and was assembled by Sir Shane as such. It contains 18 converted scrapbooks and photograph albums containing letters and some associated photographs and mementoes, many of them addressed to Sir Shane. As well as reflecting the Leslie, Jerome, Churchill, Frewen, and Ide connections, the section contains letters from the worlds of royalty, politics, the church, art, theatre, music, literature, Irish Nationalism, etc. Again this section is reflective of the Leslie standing in such circles. There is a comprehensive PRONI listing.

Leslie Papers

R. Sir Shane Leslie's books and writings

These begin with a box of Etoniana, 1870-1956, made up of books (none of them by Sir Shane) about Eton and Etonians with printed matter on the same subject and letters mainly to Sir Shane from fellow-Etonians. Many letters about these or his Eton-based novel, The Oppidan, are stuck into or placed loose in the pages of the relevant tomes. The section includes a copy of Fifty Years of Eton by Hugh Macnaghten. There then follows a box of MS and printed volumes, c.1897-1952, by Sir Shane of an autobiographical nature, all containing unique MS additions.

Another box contains Sir Shane's copies of printed books and pamphlets, and notes and correspondence of his, 1874-1943, about Irish history, language and bibliography. There is an essay by Lennox Robinson entitled 'Here Were Ladies', on Lady Gregory, Sarah Purser, the artist, and Leonie Leslie, 1943. A proof copy of The Irish Tangle (1946) by Sir Shane has been amended, corrected and annotated by him. Two copies of Sir Shane's St Patrick's Purgatory: a Record from History and Literature (London, 1932), are stuffed with relevant letters, watercolours, printed matter, etc. and feature as the frontispiece a colour reproduction of Sir John Lavery's 1929 oil painting of Lough Derg [which belonged to the Leslie family but disappeared from London during or just after the Blitz]. Latin and English notes by Sir Shane, c.1920, relate to the Lough Derg pilgrimage, its origins and history, etc.

A further box containing presentation copies of printed books, 1904-1964, relating to Ireland or by Irish writers is larded with manuscript insertions by Sir Shane. It includes a letter to Sir Shane from Eva Gore-Booth written in May 1916, describing a visit to her sister, Constance Countess Markievicz, in Mountjoy prison: '... she was wonderfully cheerful, full of courage and not grumbling at anything, she said she had a glorious week - the most splendid in her life and she was quite willing to pay the price she pointed to her funny cap and said "A felon's cap is an Irishman's crown of glory!" ...' A copy of Déirdre: the First of the Three Sorrows or Pities of Story Telling, 1939, edited by Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland, has inserted a letter from Hyde to Sir Shane, inviting him to go to America to speak on behalf of the Gaelic League.

Yet another box reflects Sir Shane's interest in and writings on Roman Catholicism, Cardinals Manning and Vaughan, spiritualism etc. This contains 3 letters, 1940-1941, to Sir Shane from Cardinal MacRory of Armagh. In one of these, dated 10 July 1940, the Cardinal compares Lord Londonderry favourably to the Belfast politicians.

'... I have been consulted at the suggestion of Lord Craigavon regarding the use to be made of our church bells during the period of the crisis. It is the first time he has ever taken any notice of me... '. He comments on Northern Ireland education and '... the deliberate boycott of Catholics (on which I shall some time show you some recent figures) and the gerrymandering of constituencies ...'. He comments on the war: '... I think it is quite unfair to blame Eire for trying to keep out of the war. If she gives her ports, she would immediately become the cockpit ... if the Germans did succeed in landing after England had seized the ports, they would I have little doubt have the bulk of the men of Eire fighting on their side. I hope and pray that Eire will be allowed to remain neutral, and I beg you to do all you can to that end. ...'

Leslie Papers

There are additional letters, 1913-1958, from miscellaneous Roman Catholic eminences and prominent men.

Further boxes reflect Sir Shane's interest in and writings on the subjects of. Mrs Fitzherbert and Minnie Seymour; English writers including Coventry Patmore, William Watson, Rudyard Kipling and Alice Meynell; and the Battle of Jutland, Admiral Lord Beatty and naval warfare generally. Another box contains two sets of papers on the unrelated subjects of the paranormal and forestry. Finally there is a box of miscellaneous notes, typescripts, correspondence, printed matter, etc., 1889- 1952, relating to Sir Shane's writings on subjects other than those already covered.

Leslie Papers

S. Sir John Leslie, 4th Bt

A box of letters and papers, c.1920-1990, of Sir John Leslie 4th Bt includes 26 letters, 1920-1939, from his sister Anita. There is one letter to him about the death in 1985 of Anita, now Mrs Leslie-King. Also included are various inventories of family heirlooms and possessions annotated by Sir John c.1950 onwards, etc.

Leslie Papers

Leslie papers held elsewhere

A. Leslie papers in the National Library of Ireland.

B. Leslie papers among the Dungannon papers in the Clwyd Record Office.

C. Sir Shane Leslie papers in Georgetown University Library.

D. Sir Shane Leslie papers in the Notre Dame, Indiana, Archives Department.