Henry Leach (British Army officer)

Early life and career

The son of Major-General Sir Edmund Leach of Corston House, Pembrokeshire, he was educated at Uppingham School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he won the Sword of Honour. He was commissioned into the Northumberland Fusiliers as a second lieutenant on 2 May 1891, and was promoted to lieutenant on 8 February 1893. He was adjutant of the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion Yorkshire Regiment from 1 May 1899.

He was promoted to captain on 27 January 1900, and served with distinction as a Special Service Officer for Mounted Infantry in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Following the end of the war in June 1902, he left Cape Town on the SS Canada and returned to Southampton in late July. He was promoted to major in 1904, and served as Military Secretary to the Governor of Gibraltar from 1905 to 1910. In 1908 he transferred to the South Wales Borderers and in 1912 he took command of the 2nd Battalion, being promoted Lieutenant-Colonel the following year.

First World War

He took the battalion to France on 6 August 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War. On 14 October 1914 he was badly wounded at the Battle of Gheluvelt and spent the rest of the war at the Adjutant-General's Department at the War Office in London. He was appointed an Assistant Adjutant-General in 1916 and Deputy Director of Personal Services, with the rank of Brigadier-General, in 1917. He retired in 1920.

Leach was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1915, Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1919, and Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1920 New Year Honours for his organisation of the 1919 Peace March through London.