A Group of WW2 Medals To The Man Who Taught Mussolini To Play Table Tennis
A group of four WW2 medals in very good condition mounted for wear: 1939-45 Star (some wear to ribbon), Burma Star, Defence Medal and War Medal attributed to Lieutenant-Colonel John Temple Bouverie Leader (known as ‘Johnny’) Royal Suffolk Hussars and Royal Artillery. A noted tennis player and eldest son of a famous Irish soldier, the Colonel John Leader of Keale House who had fought in the Boer War and WW1 and armed the US state of Oregon!
The Temple in his name derived from the previous fifteen generations of 'Leaders' derived from an old moated hall at Keale in Cork; the family name had been 'Temple' until the Battle of the Boyne, whereupon Prince William of Orange renamed John Temple of Keale, 'Leader'. The Bouverie in his name derived from his mother's family as his father, having retired from military service in 1909 relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his new English wife, Evelyn Pleydell-Bouverie, the daughter of the former commander of the 17th DCO Lancers, and niece of the Earl of Radnor.
The medals come with some of Johnny’s military insignia as follows: his dog tags, an officers RA OSD cap badge (turning wheel (very stiff) complete with its two blades and maker marked JR Gaunt London) and a tie pin style RA brooch in gilt and enamel, with original pin fixing and in very good condition, a good portrait photo of him as a captain Royal Artillery, a photo (stained) of him with his father and his two other brothers in tennis kit (note his father's wry smile as he is deliberately standing on Johnny’s right foot!!) and a copy of an article from of the friends of the Suffolk Regiment website which includes a head shot photo of Johnny wearing a Loyal Suffolk Hussars Collar badge. There are also a selection of letters and airgrams from him to his family at home from India both in the 1930s and during WW2.
Johnny died in 2008 in Norfolk aged 94, and lead what appears to be a wonderful life and at his funeral a eulogy (printed copy included) contains many details of his life and war service. He was born on 9th June 1913 in Vancouver Canada, and grew up in the USA and Canada and later went to France with the family. He was already a fine tennis player and whilst winning tournaments on the Riviera he was spotted by Mussolini who invited him to play tennis in Italy and he subsequently taught Mussolini to play table tennis; the great dictator being a regular at the Leader's villa for some weeks as his skill at the sport improved. Johnny played tennis against some of the greats of the time and even mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 1932.
Whilst in Majorca he met the great love of his life, a young American girl, Amoret Fitz Randolph known by all affectionately as 'Weeny'. They married in 1934 in Maryland USA and moved to Tidcombe Hall, Devon, but the house was too large and the grounds to small so they bought Monks Hall near Diss in Norfolk and lived there all their lives. They were the complete 'it' couple, no party was complete without them and they seemed to have it all until war broke out. Johnny was an officer in the Loyal Suffolk Hussars and when war was declared, he was called up and became part of the Royal Artillery; the arm of service to which the Loyal Suffolk Hussars were part of.
When the first members of the US 8th Air Force began arriving in England in May 1942, Johnny was chosen to be a liaison officer with this new group of visitors. His American wife too, helped ease diplomatic relations at an awkward time. Posted to India, he was to be part of a special Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery, designed to restore law and order in the newly invaded Japan, but the atomic bomb put pay to that. India was familiar territory for Johnny as he had been there previously teaching tennis to the grandson of the Maharajah of Kutch. Post war Johnny and Wenny with their two sons continued to live and farm at Monks Hall. Johnny became a magistrate, chairman of the education committee and a vicar’s warden.
The London Gazette for 7th June 1963 confirms that as a Major of Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, he had reached the age limit and ceased to be a member of the reserve, retaining the honorary rank of Lt-Col.
His father was a famous soldier in WW1, and the subject of the musical composition “The Colonel Leader March’. His father's medals were sold via Spink and his medals and write up can be seen here:
https://www.spink.com/lot/17003000538
see:
http://www.millstreet.ie/blog/2016/10/06/colonel-john-leader-of-keale-house
And
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/scua/2014/12/16/colonel-john-leader-the-man-who-prepared-oregon-for-world-war-i/
B24.D.80.4
Code: 61331