Catalogue description Papers of Francis Martin Leake (1869-1928), Admiral and DSO, of Marshalls, Standon, 1890 - 1926

Leake, Francis Martin, 1869-1928, Admiral, of Marshalls, Standon, Hertfordshire

[Accession 2331]

Purchased December 1987

Francis Martin-Leake was the fourth son of Stephen and Isabel Martin-Leake of Marshalls, Standon, Hertfordshire, and Thorpe Hall, Thorpe-Le-Soken, Essex. He entered the navy in the early 1880s where he was successively promoted to the ranks of Sub Lieutenant (1890), Lieutenant (1892), Captain (1911), and Rear Admiral (1921) before retiring in 1921, with promotion to Vice Admiral on the Retired List in 1926. He was present on HMS Pathfinder in September 1914 when it became the first warship to be sunk by a German submarine after the outbreak of war. He received the Distinguished Service Order in 1917, the United States Distinguished Service Medal in 1919 and was appointed as a Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King in 1921 and a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1922