Admiral Leahy retired from the Royal Navy in 1927 and spent the last years of his life in the Budleigh area, initially at Wynards Meadow in East Budleigh but later at Glenholme on West Hill in Budleigh Salterton where he died in December 1940.

He was born in Portsmouth on the 30th June 1871 the son of James Wilton Leahy and his wife Frances.  His father was a Royal Naval surgeon who had served on HMS Zebra and had just been appointed in May of that year to a post on the HMS Duke of Wellington (1) which was the flagship of the Port Admiral at Portsmouth.  However, his father died suddenly on the 3rd of July at his house Melrose Villa, Victoria Road, Southsea, just three days after his son’s birth (2).

James was educated at Christ’s Hospital and then at the new Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham on the dockside in the Keyham suburb of Plymouth.  Students spent five years living at the College, undergoing training in workshops around the dockyard.  They attended the workshops in the morning and the College from 1.30 to 4.30pm, they then returned to the workshops in the evening from 6.30 until 8pm.  They spent a further two years at Greenwich College and then were assigned to ships (3).  James was confirmed as an assistant engineer in October 1892 and was promoted to Engineer in 1897.  In 1900 he was on HMS Revenge, a Royal Sovereign-class battleship. 

He was promoted to Engineer Lieutenant, and then in 1909 to Engineer Commander and was posted in 1913 to HMS Barham a Queen Elizabeth Class Dreadnought.  In 1913 Barham was in the process of construction at the John Brown & Co shipyard on the Clyde.  It wasn’t commissioned until August 1915 so one assumes the ship’s engineers were actively supervising the installation of equipment prior to that.  She joined the 5th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow on 2 October 1915.  On 1st December 1915, she collided with her sister ship Warspite, with both ships receiving significant damage.  After temporary repair at Scapa, Barham was sent to Invergordon for more permanent repairs, these continuing until 23rd December.

HMS Barham was involved in the only major naval battle of World War One – the Battle of Jutland from 31st May to 1st June 1916 (for details see 4).  Barham was Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's flagship in the 5th Battle Squadron, attached to Admiral David Beatty's battle-cruiser fleet. She fired 337 15-inch shells and 25 6-inch shells during the battle.  It is thought that she and her sister ship Valiant made 23 or 24 hits between them, making them two of the most accurate warships in the British fleet. In an action against the German 1 Scouting Group under Admiral Franz von Hipper, the 5th Battle Squadron "fired with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy" (according to Reinhard Scheer), damaging the battle-cruisers SMS Lützow and Seydlitz and a number of other German warships.

Barham received six hits during the battle, five from 12-inch shells and one from an 11-inch shell, suffering casualties of 26 killed and 46 wounded.  Captain Craig’s report on the conduct of the ship during the battle included the comment that:

Although the "Barham" received considerable structural damage from the enemy's shells, and the casualties were fairly heavy, the ship was in a thoroughly efficient fighting condition, and had all guns in action and fire control practically intact at the end of three hours' engagement.  This reflects great credit on the Officers responsible for the upkeep of the propelling machinery and of the guns' mountings and electrical equipment.

As Engineering Commander, Leahy would have been responsible for much of the maintenance during the battle.

The handling of the British Fleet by Admiral Beatty came in for criticism afterwards.  It is fair to say that the German Fleet probably had the best of the encounter however they retired to port and never came out en masse again. Following Jutland, Barham was under repair until 5 July 1916.

In 1916 Leahy married Agnes Rowan Macauslan daughter of John Ure Macauslan.  She had been born in Dunbartonshire in 1879.  Their first son James Rowan Leahy was born on the 4th December 1917 probably at her parents’ home in Scotland.

Barham was refitted again at Cromarty between February and March 1917, being fitted with a pair of 12-pounder anti-aircraft guns that year, and was again refitted in February 1918.  Leahy left the ship in 1918 and was appointed to be Chief Engineer at Haulbowline Dockyard in Cork Harbour.  During the stay his wife gave birth in 1919 to a second son John Barham Leahy (killed in World War II – see later).

James Leahy received an O.B.E. in 1919 and the citation at the time said that he had been recommended in high terms by the Vice Admiral commanding the 5th Battle Squadron.  He had also been highly commended by C-in-C Coast of Ireland for his services at Haulbowline Dockyard.  In addition to the O.B.E. the Russian Czar awarded the Order of St. Stanislav (2nd Class) to Leahy and other officers involved in the battle.

Leahy was promoted to Engineer Captain in June 1920.  From Cork he was moved to HM Dockyard Malta in 1921 where he stayed until 1924 when he was appointed Engineer Manager at Chatham Dockyard.  While at Chatham he was promoted in July 1925 to Engineer Rear Admiral and in June 1927 became a Companion of the Honourable Order of the Bath (3rd Class Military Division).  He was placed on the retired list at his own request in October 1927.

The family would appear to have moved from Chatham to East Budleigh fairly quickly.  Local newspaper accounts record a few events in their lives. Rear-Admiral Leahy was elected to be Treasurer of the East Budleigh Parochial Church Council in July 1928.  Mrs Leahy was advertising for a young cook-general in November 1928 and implied that they already had a parlour-maid.  Staff seemed difficult to find or retain because she was also advertising in 1930 and 1931.  James manned one of the side-shows at the Bicton Fete in August 1929 which had the enigmatic title of “electric disc”.

He gave his recreations as golf, lawn tennis and billiards in Who’s Who.

In July 1931 their eldest son James unexpectedly died and the notice in the Exeter & Plymouth Gazette read - “Much sympathy is felt for Rear-Admiral and Mrs Leahy in the loss of their young son, after a painful illness.  The interment took place on Wednesday at Budleigh Salterton”. His death at the age of 13 was recorded in Bristol so I assume he may have been in the Childrens’ Hospital at the time.

In February 1938 Mrs Leahy was advertising for a couple, or a cook-general and parlour-maid for Glenholme a “modernised house” in Budleigh Salterton. Later in the year on Remembrance Sunday Rear-Admiral Leahy headed a representative party to lay a poppy-wreath on the grave of the unknown sailor in Budleigh Salterton Cemetery.

On 11th December 1940 James Leahy died at home in Budleigh Salterton and he was buried at Budleigh Salterton Cemetery in the same grave as his son James.

His wife died in Surrey in 1969.

John Barham Leahy 1919-1942

He was born in Cork in 1919 and then presumably followed his father to Malta and then to Chatham before James Leahy retired to East Budleigh.  As John was about eight years old it is likely that he went away to preparatory school at that time.  In September 1930 we see (5) that J B Leahy took part in the final cricket match of the year between visiting and resident schoolboys of East Budleigh and Budleigh Salterton which resulted in a win for East Budleigh by 6 runs; Leahy was apparently one of the best bowlers.  The newspaper records that he was at Connaught House which was in Weymouth, and would have returned to school at the end of the month.

Like his father he was obviously a keen tennis player as he usually took part in either the singles or doubles events at the Budleigh Salterton Lawn Tennis Tournaments between 1934 and 1938.

At some stage during the Second World War John joined the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a Second Lieutenant. Events he was involved in at that time are described in the following account (6):

“The Battalion had arrived in Singapore in August 1939. After two years intensive training, its first contact with the Japanese occurred on the 15th of December, 1941, at Baling, a week after the Japanese landed at Kota Bahru in north east Malaya.  It was then in almost continuous action as it retired through north and central Malaya, until the fall of Singapore in February, 1942.  The most important engagement in the withdrawal down the Peninsula was the defence of the causeway over the River Perak which temporarily halted the Japanese advance.

In January 1942, the final action took place at the River Slim where the Argylls were overwhelmed by superior numbers of the enemy.  The Battalion was then tasked with defending the Singapore causeway which was the only crossing between Singapore Island and the mainland.  Almost 30,000 British and Allied troops crossed the causeway before it was prepared for demolition. British troops set off two explosions on the causeway on 31 January 1942.” 

The Argylls then withdrew and marched out with their pipes playing.  John was killed on either the 1st or 9th of February 1942 aged 22 during the final defence of Singapore.  The Battalion was eventually ordered to surrender on the 15th February and most of the survivors worked on the infamous Burma Railway.  His name is inscribed on war memorials in Singapore and Budleigh Salterton, and on the stone at the head of his father and elder brother’s grave in the Budleigh Salterton cemetery.

Written and Researched by Roger Lendon © 2014

(1) Wednesday 10 May 1871, Hampshire Advertiser
(2) Tuesday 04 July 1871, London Standard
(3) Wikipedia, various articles
(4) BATTLE OF JUTLAND 30th May to 1st June 1916. Official Despatches with Appendices. London: Published by His Majesty’s Stationary Office
(5) Wednesday 17 September 1930, Exeter and Plymouth Gazette
(6) http://www.argylls.co.uk/history/the-argyll-and-sutherland-highlanders-1881-present/1939-1945

Other information from the London Gazette, Ancestry.com, & www.freebmd.org.uk/ 

BS-B-00065  Biography