CO-CCCF-0015

Record Date: 
4 July 2013
Graveyard: 
Christchurch
Exact wording of epitaph: 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF 

F.H.M. LEADER

DIED 9TH MARCH 1927

AGED 71 YEARS

AND F.W.M. LEADER

CAPT 2ND CONNAUGHT RANGERS

KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE 26TH AUG 1914

ALSO IN LOVING MEMORY OF

AGNES LETITIA LEADER

OF CLASSAS, COACHFORD, CO. CORK

BELOVED WIFE OF F.H.M. LEADER

DIED 14TH JAN 1946

HOLY FATHER KEEP THEM IN THY NAME

WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME THAT THEY

MAY BE ONE AS WE ARE     ST JOHN CH 17 V II

AND OF THEIR YOUNGER DAUGHTER

AILEEN AGNES MOWBRAY LEADER

BORN 22ND OCT. 1899, DIED 7TH APRIL 1959.

Memorial Type: 
Cross
Grave location
County: 
Cork
Latitude: 
51.909934029977
Longitude: 
-8.7930750799987
Number of people commemorated: 
4
People commemorated: 
Name: 
F.H.M.
Surname: 
Leader
Date of death - day: 
9
Date of death - month: 
March
Date of death - year: 
1927
Age: 
71
Title: 
Captain
Name: 
F.W.M.
Surname: 
Leader
Date of death - day: 
26
Date of death - month: 
August
Date of death - year: 
1914
Name: 
Agnes Letitia
Surname: 
Leader
Date of death - day: 
14
Date of death - month: 
January
Date of death - year: 
1946
Address: 
Classas, Coachford, Co. Cork.
Relationship with first person: 
Wife
Name: 
Aileen Agnes Mowbray
Surname: 
Leader
Date of birth - day: 
22
Date of birth - month: 
October
Date of birth - year: 
1899
Date of death - day: 
7
Date of death - month: 
April
Date of death - year: 
1959
Relationship with first person: 
Daughter
Notes: 

'F.H.M.' Leader stands for Francis Henry Mowbray Leader, Mowbray having been the name of his maternal grandfather. (Source: A. Greene). See also CO-CCCF-0014. 

F.H.M. Leader of Classas, Coachford, Co. Cork was a son of William Leader of Rosnalee, Co. Cork. He was born at Monkstown, Dublin in 1855, educated at Rugby and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and served for nine years in the Royal Artillery. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Cork, and was also a Conservator for the River Lee, taking an interest in fishing. He married in 1878 Agnes, daughter of T. Broderick of Leemount, Coachford. Their issue included two sons, Francis William (Lieutenant in the Connaught Rangers) and Thomas, and two daughters, Mary Gwendoline and Aileen Agnes.

Source: (Rev. Richard J. Hodges, 'Cork and County Cork in the Twentieth Century: Contemporary Biographies' (W.T.Pike (ed)) (Brighton, 1911).

This particular monument commemorates Frank Leader (F. H. M. Leader) of Classas and his family. Among them are his son William (F. W. M. Leader), lately of the Connaught Rangers (The Devil’s Own), who was killed in action 26th August 1914. Captain Leader was one of those, in the British Expeditionary Force, who tried in vain to halt the German advance during the early days of WW1. As part of the Retreat from Mons, a stand was made at Le Grand Fayt, and he and his group were overwhelmed. The Regimental Diary describes the engagement, as does a mention in “The History of the Second Division” by Everard Wyrall. William Leader’s grave is actually in Le Grand Fayt, and not here in Christchurch. (Source - ACR Heritage).