NAM.2002-02-910-5

Manuscript letter, dated 11 Feb 1919, from Capt. Wyatt Bagshawe to William Leeke. 4 pages. Sent to William Leeke by Capt B Wyatt Bagshawe, Inspector 2nd Class of Ordnance Machinery, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, c/o No. 25 Ordnance Mobile Workshop (Light), VI Corps, British Army in Germany. The letter relates the history of the accompanying flag, harking back to William Leeke’s exploits at the Battle of Waterloo, and expresses the hope that the flag may be handed down through the Leeke Family. The donor states that Alan Leeke, for whom the flag was intended, died when HMS Hermes sank in 1942, leaving no other descendants. This Alan Leeke may be the Rev Alan Charles Herbert Leeke, chaplain on board HMS Hermes, commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial and the Commonwealth War Graves website. From a collection of papers relating to the Leeke Family, 1873-1919.

Waterloo, Battle of, 1815 (Napoleonic Wars, Waterloo 1815)