Leslie William Leigh (1921 – 1980), was a Sierra Leonean police officer who served as the first African Commmissioner of Police in Sierra Leone. Leigh was one of the few West Africans to enlist and serve in the Second World War as a bomber pilot.
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Background
Leslie William Leigh, fondly known as "Bill" Leigh, was born to Lt. Col. Thomas William Dupigny-Leigh, (1888-1968), and a mother from the Susu ethnic group. Thomas William "Dupi" Leigh was a paternal descendant of William Henry Leigh, an English slave trader and a maternal descendant of the Dupigny family of Freetown, Sierra Leone, originally of African and French-Dominican descent in Roseau, Dominica. William Leigh was a first cousin of John Ernest Leigh, the former Sierra Leonean ambassador to the United States and the late Dr Evelyn Arthur Moffatt Leigh.
Royal Air Force
Leslie William Leigh attended St Anthony's Primary School and subsequent to completing his secondary school education at the Albert Academy, Leigh travelled to Britain and enlisted in the Royal Air Force where he was trained in Canada and served as a bomber pilot during the war.
Political career
William Leigh was appointed as the first African Commissioner of Police following the independence of Sierra Leone on 27 April 1961.
Death
William Leigh died of a heart attack in Monrovia, Liberia.