Lt Leslie St Leger Blakeney, 2nd Bn, Lancashire Fusiliers

Lieutenant Leslie St Leger Blakeney of the 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, drowned on the 28th March 1915. He was 23 years old, the son of the Reverend William Purdon Blakeney and Elizabeth Adeline Blakeney (nee Wilson), of Woodside, Bideford, North Devon. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the additional information that he was educated at Marlborough College and Sandhurst.

Leslie's birth was registered in the "Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire - West Riding" district in the June quarter of 1890 and he appears on the 1891 census as an eleven month old infant living at 4 Pierpoint Terrace in Cheltenham. He is recorded as the grand nephew of Emma Wilson, a 61-year-old widow living on her own means. Leslie's place of birth is recorded as Thorpe Salvin, a small village which today lies within the metropolitan borough of Rotherham and which in 2001 had a population of just 502. There would have been even fewer residents, of course, in 1890. William Blakeney, Leslie's father, was the resident vicar - presumably of St Peter's Church - at Thorpe Salvin between 1886 and 1916.

The Peerage website tells us that Leslie was born on the 13th April 1890. At the time of his death he was attached to the Gold Coast Regiment, The West African Frontier Force, and drowned when the SS Falaba was torpedoed off Liverpool. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission's information about this memorial states:

"The Hollybrook Memorial commemorates by name almost 1,900 servicemen and women of the Commonwealth land and air forces whose graves are not known, many of whom were lost in transports or other vessels torpedoed or mined in home waters."

Dixons Medals which, at one time, had Lieutenant Blakeney's medals for sale stated:

"The Elder Line steamship Falaba was en route from Liverpool to Sierra Leone, carrying 151 passengers and 96 crew, and with a cargo valued at £50,000. At 11.40 on the morning of the 28 March 1915, when 38 miles west of the Smalls Lighthouse, she was signalled to stop by the German submarine U-28 (Cdr. Baron von Forstner). Unable to out-run the submarine, Captain Davis of the Falaba complied with the order and was attempting to abandon ship when the U-Boat, unprovoked, fired a torpedo at a range of 150 yards.

"The resulting hit and explosion sent the Falaba to the bottom in less than 10 minutes. Captain Davis and Lieutenant Blakeney were two of the 104 persons who perished in the attack.

Leslie's medal index card indicates that he arrived in Africa as a second lieutenant on the 12th August 1914 and that therefore he must have been promoted to Lieutenant after this date. He had been commissioned with the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1910 and served with the Togoland Force in Africa. There is useful discussion concerning the sinking of the SS Falaba on the Great War Forum.

In 1922, an application was made - presumably by Leslie's father - for the oak leaf, signifying a mention in dispatches. This was duly awarded as can be seen from the attached photo, courtesy of Dixons.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission