Reverend R.J. Leslie
(1829-1904)
1 August 1861
Volume 4, page 301, sitting number 5276.
Born in or about 1828 in Dublin, Robert Joshua Leslie was the son of clergyman Edward Leslie.
He obtained his BA at Trinity College, Dublin, and was ordained at Lambeth Palace on 30 May 1852.
He appears on the 1861 census a lodger living at 20 Hollow Stone in Nottingham. He was the Curate at St John the Baptist, Nottingham.
On 12 May 1864 at Clifton in Bristol he married Mary Wood, daughter of Joseph Wood, a banker and magistrate.
In 1867 he was appointed to the curacy of Thatwell in Lincolnshire.
When the census was taken in 1881 he was the Vicar of Holbeach St John’s in Lincolnshire.
He died there on 28 January 1904, leaving an estate valued at £5084.
‘THE SAD DEATH OF A CLERGYMAN — At the inquest touching on the death of the Rev. Robert Joshua Leslie, who for more than 30 years has been Vicar of Holbeach St John’s, the evidence given showed that a few days ago the deceased clergyman, who was 75 years of age, hurt his hand on a bed-post, catching it against the screw of the post, from which the knob had come off. It was bound up, but the injury did not do well, and later on a doctor was called in. Dr Harper, of Holbeach, who attended the deceased, said he found him suffering from a wound between the thumb and first finger of the right hand. A piece of flesh torn back had already mortified, and the deceased was extremely weak and feeble. The deceased died from exhauston, consequent upon the wound. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence’ (Lincolnshire Chronicle, 5 February 1904).
Later that month the terms of his will were widely reported throughout the country.
‘The will of the Rev. Robert Joshua Leslie, who was for thirty years vicar of Holbeach St John’s, Lincolnshire, and who died a few days ago as the result of an accident, is the object of much comment in the locality. The rev. gentleman has divided his estate among seven local residents who regularly supported him during his ministry. The legatees, who receive £500 each, are two maids at the Vicarage, the sexton, and four villagers. The members of his family are excluded’ (Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 19 February 1904).
‘The reading of the will of the late Vicar of Holbeach St John’s, the Rev. Robert Joshua Leslie, came as a surprise, and disclosed to his few friends unpleasant tidings’ Some interested parties had thought to contest the will, but ‘as everyone in the neighbourhood knows, [the testator] was of an exceedingly eccentric character’ and ‘he seldom had any desire to see his own or his deceased wife’s relatives; they seldom visited him, and he retaliated in similar fashion’ (Boston Guardian, 20 February 1904).