SWORD RESTORED

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20506, 24 May 1938, Page 9

SWORD RESTORED

LOST BINOE 1814 FOUND IN FRENCH FARMHOUSE (Times Air Mall Service) LONDON, April 14 Lost since 1914 when its owner, a brilliant Rifle Brigade captain, fell in France, a sword originally presented by the Duke of Connaught has now been handed back by the Duke to the dead officer’s 81-vear-old father, reports the News Chronicle. It will hang beside the owner's war medals in the Glasslough, Monaghan, Ulster, home of his parents, Sir John and Lady Leslie. The sword belonged to their second son, Captain Norman Leslie, who received it of the Duke 30 years ago as an emblem of chivalry and bravery. After Captain Leslie was killed his kit was sent home, but the sword was missing—lost in the battlefields his family thought. In Farmhouse A year ago an Englishwoman visiting France saw it hanging on the wall of a French farmhouse. The owner’s name had been obliterated by time, but the word “Connaught” and the date of presentation were still decipherable. The Englishwoman wrote to the Duke of Connaught, who, by comparing the date of presentation with his records, established that It was that of Captain Leslie. Sir John —a former staff officer of the Duke —and Lady Leslie travelled specially from their home to the Connaught residence at Bagshot Park, Surrey, to receive the sword. Captain Leslie passed out of the Royal Military Academy with only four fewer marks than Viscount Gort, who was last December appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff.