James Graham Leslie (14 November 1868 – 16 May 1949) was a unionist

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He was born the son of Seymour and Louisa (née Graham) Leslie. His father worked in the Probate Office, London. He inherited the family seat at Leslie Hill, Ballymoney, County Antrim from his uncle. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Antrim The High Sheriff of Antrim is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Antrim. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the high sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judi ...

in 1907. Leslie studied at

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and briefly went into the law, before joining the Contract Department of the

British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign ...

.John F. Harbinson, ''The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882-1973'', p.205 In 1907, he served as

. He resigned when given control of his family estates, and sat as an

Irish Unionist Party The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and P ...

councillor in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. In 1921, he was elected for the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

to the first

Senate of Northern Ireland The Senate of Northern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. Powers In practice the Sen ...

, and served until his death in 1949. Given his experience in drafting, he played a key role in maintaining the chamber as an institution capable of revising bills from the lower chamber. From 1945 to 1949, Leslie served as the

Lord Lieutenant of Antrim A list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of County Antrim, Antrim, located in Northern Ireland. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II of England, James II, when they were renamed governors.George Edw ...

. He married in 1901 Grace, the daughter of J. Lament Brodie of Wimbledon, with whom he had a son, Seymour, and two daughters.

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