# Shane Leslie

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Anglo-Irish diplomat and writer (1885–1971)

For other people with similar names, see [John Leslie](/source/John_Leslie_(disambiguation)).

Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet Born (1885-09-24)24 September 1885 Castle Leslie, County Monaghan, Ireland Died 14 August 1971(1971-08-14) (aged 85) 15b Palmeira Court, Hove, East Sussex, England Education Ludgrove School Eton College Alma mater King's College, Cambridge Occupations Writer, diplomat, literary critic, public speaker Spouse(s) Marjorie Ide ​ ​ (m. 1912; died 1951)​ Iris Frazer ​ (m. 1958)​ Children 3 Parents Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet (father) Leonie Jerome (mother) Relatives Anita Leslie (daughter) John Leslie (son) Desmond Leslie (son) Leonard W. Jerome (maternal grandfather) Jennie Churchill (aunt) Sir Winston Churchill (1st cousin) Henry Clay Ide (father-in-law) Writing career Genre Novel, biography, translation, criticism Notable works The Cantab

**Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet** (24 September 1885 – 14 August 1971),[1] commonly known by his nickname, **Shane Leslie**, was an [Anglo-Irish](/source/Anglo-Irish_people) diplomat and writer.[2] He was a first cousin of [Sir Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill). In 1908, Leslie became a [Roman Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church) and supported [Irish Home Rule](/source/Irish_Home_Rule).

## Childhood and education

Leslie was born in [Glaslough](/source/Glaslough), [County Monaghan](/source/County_Monaghan), into a wealthy [Anglo-Irish](/source/Anglo-Irish) landowning family (49,968 acres). His father was [Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet](/source/Sir_John_Leslie%2C_2nd_Baronet), and his mother, Leonie Jerome, was the sister of Winston Churchill's mother, [Jennie](/source/Jennie_Churchill). Both were daughters of [Leonard W. Jerome](/source/Leonard_W._Jerome). His ancestor, the [Right Reverend](/source/The_Right_Reverend) [John Leslie](/source/John_Leslie_(bishop_of_Clogher)), [Bishop of the Isles](/source/Bishop_of_the_Isles), moved from [Scotland](/source/Scotland) to Ireland in 1633 when he was made [Bishop of Raphoe](/source/Bishop_of_Raphoe) in [County Donegal](/source/County_Donegal) and was made [Bishop of Clogher](/source/Bishop_of_Clogher) in 1661.[3] Bishop Leslie was a vocal opponent of [Oliver Cromwell](/source/Oliver_Cromwell).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Together with his brother Norman, Leslie's early education began at home where a German governess, Clara Woelke, was their first teacher.[4] As children the brothers had more contact with servants than they had with their parents. Leslie's own daughter, Anita, said that "In my parents' view schools performed the same functions that kennels did for dogs. They were places where pets could be conveniently deposited while their owners travelled."[5]

Leslie was educated at [Ludgrove School](/source/Ludgrove_School), then [Eton College](/source/Eton_College) and [King's College, Cambridge](/source/King's_College%2C_Cambridge). While at [Cambridge University](/source/Cambridge_University) he became a [Roman Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church) and a supporter of [Irish Home Rule](/source/Irish_Home_Rule). He adopted an anglicised Irish variant of his name ("Shane"). Not overly impressed by Eton, Leslie refused to send his own sons there. They were educated at Roman Catholic Benedictine schools: Jack at [Downside School](/source/Downside_School) and Desmond at [Ampleforth College](/source/Ampleforth_College).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Adult life

In the [January 1910 general election](/source/January_1910_United_Kingdom_general_election) Leslie stood as the [Irish Parliamentary Party](/source/Irish_Parliamentary_Party) candidate for the [Londonderry City](/source/Londonderry_City_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_1910s) division, losing by just 57 votes. In the second general election later that year he was again narrowly defeated by the Unionist candidate.

Before [World War I](/source/World_War_I), Leslie travelled extensively[6] and in 1912 he married Marjorie Ide, the youngest daughter of [Henry Clay Ide](/source/Henry_Clay_Ide), then United States ambassador to Spain and former Governor-General of the [Philippines](/source/Philippines). His parents and other family members moved temporarily to London at the outbreak of war.

During the war he was in a British Ambulance Corps, until invalided out; he was then sent to Washington, D.C. to help the British Ambassador, Sir [Cecil Spring Rice](/source/Cecil_Spring_Rice), soften Irish-American hostility towards England and obtain American intervention in the war in the aftermath of the 1916 [Easter Rising](/source/Easter_Rising) in Dublin and the execution of its leaders. But he also looked to Ireland for inspiration when writing and edited a literary magazine that contained much Irish verse. He became a supporter of the ideals of [Irish nationalism](/source/Irish_nationalism), although not physical force republicanism.

In the [1918 election](/source/1918_United_Kingdom_general_election_in_Ireland) the [Irish Parliamentary Party](/source/Irish_Parliamentary_Party) lost massively to [Sinn Féin](/source/Sinn_F%C3%A9in), putting an end to Shane Leslie's political career, but as the first cousin of [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) he remained a primary witness to much that was said and done outside the official record during the negotiation of the [Anglo-Irish Treaty](/source/Anglo-Irish_Treaty) of 1921. Disappointed, he felt unwanted in Ireland and abandoned by the British. Like many members of the landed gentry from the 1880s who were obliged to turn to other occupations, he could no longer rely on income from landholdings.

He wrote extensively, in a wide range of styles, in verse, prose, and polemic, over several decades. His writings include *The End of a Chapter* (1916),[7] while hospitalised during the [Great War](/source/Great_War), *The Oppidan* (1922), a [roman à clef](/source/Roman_%C3%A0_clef) about his life and contemporaries at Eton, an edition of the *Letters of [Herbert Cardinal Vaughan](/source/Herbert_Cardinal_Vaughan) to [Lady Herbert of Lea](/source/Elizabeth_Herbert%2C_Baroness_Herbert_of_Lea)* (1942), and a biography *[Mrs Fitzherbert](/source/Mrs_Fitzherbert): a life chiefly from unpublished sources* (1939), together with an edition of her letters (with Maria Anne Fitzherbert), *The letters of Mrs Fitzherbert and connected papers; being the second volume of the life of Mrs. Fitzherbert* (1944). He also wrote *[Mark Sykes](/source/Mark_Sykes): His Life and Letters* (1923), a biography of the English traveller, Conservative Party politician and diplomatic advisor. He advised budding novelist Scott Fitzgerald on the title of his 1st novel, they shared correspondence with the future Mnsg William A Hemmick who was Fitzgerald's teacher at the now shut Newman School.

A passionate advocate of reforestation, [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] he found the business of running an estate uncreative and boring, and transferred the estate entailed to him to his eldest son, John Norman Leslie, who succeeded as the 4th Baronet. He transferred [St Patrick's Purgatory](/source/St_Patrick's_Purgatory) on [Lough Derg](/source/Lough_Derg_(Donegal)) to the Roman Catholic [Bishop of Clogher](/source/Bishop_of_Clogher), [Eugene O'Callaghan](/source/Eugene_O'Callaghan).

The wealth of the Leslies had waned by the 1930s following the [Wall Street crash](/source/Wall_Street_crash) of 1929 and a farm that was loss making. In his unpublished memoirs, he wrote "a gentleman's standing in his world was signalled by his list of clubs and it was worth paying hundreds of pounds in subs". They continued to maintain their lifestyle, involving attendance at the London season and the entertainment of distinguished visitors, including [Anthony Eden](/source/Anthony_Eden) at Glaslough. At the outbreak of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) in 1939 he joined the [Home Guard](/source/British_Home_Guard). He spent the remainder of his life between Glaslough and London.

## Family

He was the elder son of [Sir John Leslie, 2nd Baronet](/source/Leslie_Baronets), and Leonie Blanche Jerome. He married, firstly, Marjorie Ide, daughter of General [Henry Clay Ide](/source/Henry_Clay_Ide), on 11 June 1912 and had two sons and one daughter:

- [Anita Theodosia Moira Rodzianko King](/source/Anita_Theodosia_Moira_Rodzianko_King) (21 November 1914 – 5 November 1985), novelist and biographer; was married (secondly) to Commander [Bill King](/source/William_King_(Royal_Navy_officer)), World War II submarine commander and yachtsman; had two children; friend of [Hazel Lavery](/source/Hazel_Lavery) who was reputedly a [paramour](/source/Extramarital_sex) of [Michael Collins](/source/Michael_Collins_(Irish_leader)).

- [Sir John Norman Ide Leslie, 4th Baronet](/source/Sir_John_Leslie%2C_4th_Baronet) (6 December 1916 – 18 April 2016), popularly known as *Sir Jack Leslie*, never married or sired children.

- [Desmond Arthur Peter Leslie](/source/Desmond_Leslie) (29 June 1921 – 21 February 2001).

His first wife Marjorie died on 8 February 1951. On 30 May 1958 at the Catholic Church of St Peter & Edward, Westminster, Shane Leslie (72) married [Mrs Iris Carola Frazer](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iris_Carola_Laing&action=edit&redlink=1) (55), who was the daughter of Charles Miskin Laing and [Etheldreda Janet Laing](/source/Etheldreda_Janet_Laing).[8]

He died at 15b Palmeira Court, Hove, Sussex on 14 April 1971, aged 85 and a requiem mass was held for him in Westminster Cathedral on 12 October 1971.

## See also

- [Commander Bill King](/source/Bill_King_(Royal_Navy_officer))

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Rauchbauer, Otto (2009). *Shane Leslie: Sublime Failure*. Dublin: [Liliput Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liliput_Press&action=edit&redlink=1). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781843511564](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781843511564).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Leslie, Shane (1939). *[Mrs. Fitzherbert](/source/Maria_Anne_Fitzherbert) A Life. Chiefly from Unpublished Sources*. Burns Oates. [ASIN](/source/ASIN_(identifier)) [B0006D99I0](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006D99I0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *[Burke's Peerage](/source/Burke's_Peerage)*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Dooley, Terence (2001). *The Decline of the Big House in Ireland*. Wolfound Press Ltd. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-86327-850-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-86327-850-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Leslie, Anita (1981). ["Curious Schooldays"](https://archive.org/details/giltgingerbreada0000lesl/page/68/mode/1up). *The Gilt and the Gingerbread: an Autobiography*. [Hutchinson](/source/Hutchinson_Heinemann). p. 68. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0091456304](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0091456304). Retrieved 21 June 2024 – via Internet Archive.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Leslie, Shane (1936). *American wonderland: Memories of four tours in the United States of America (1911–1935)*. M Joseph Ltd. [ASIN](/source/ASIN_(identifier)) [B00085VWEU](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00085VWEU).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Archive.org: *The End of a Chapter* by Leslie, Shane, 1885-1971](https://archive.org/details/endofchapter01lesl/page/n9/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** *Evening Standard*, 30 May 1958

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Shane Leslie](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shane_Leslie).

- [The Shane Leslie Biography Project](https://archive.today/20070929020553/http://www.nmgk.org/leslie/)

- [Shane Leslie](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?24470) at the [Internet Speculative Fiction Database](/source/Internet_Speculative_Fiction_Database)

- ["The Shane Leslie-Godfrey Faussett Archive"](https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1840) held at [Churchill Archives Centre](/source/Churchill_Archives_Centre)

Baronetage of the United Kingdom Preceded by John Leslie Baronet (of Glaslough) 1944–1971 Succeeded by John Leslie

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shane Leslie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Leslie) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Leslie?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.