The Reverend Sir John Leale (14 January 1892 – 22 July 1969) was a

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

Jurat The ''jurats'' () are lay people in Guernsey and Jersey who act as judges of fact rather than law, though they preside over land conveyances and liquor licensing. In Alderney, however, the jurats are judges of both fact and law (assisted by the ...

and

Methodist minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidanc ...

,John Leale (1892-1969)
"The Island wiki" Accessed February 14, 2016 who assumed the role as President of the States of Guernsey Controlling Committee during the occupation of the Guernsey by Nazi Germany (1940–1945).

Biography

Leale was born at

Vale, Guernsey Vale (Guernésiais: ''Lé Vale''; French: ''Le Valle'') is one of the ten parishes of Guernsey in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands. In 933 the islands, formerly under the control of William I, then Duchy of Brittany were annexed by the ...

, in 1892 and was ordained in 1918, at the Methodist Conference in Manchester. After his predecessor,

Ambrose Sherwill Sir Ambrose James Sherwill (12 February 1890 – 25 September 1968) was Bailiff of Guernsey from 1946 to 1959. In the early months of World War II, he helped in the administration of the Channel Islands when they were occupied by the Germans. ...

, was deported to Nazi prisons on the Continent in 1940, Leale assumed his role at the head of the executive committee. He and

Victor Carey Sir Victor Gosselin Carey was born on 2 July 1871, in Guernsey, Channel Islands. He held the post of Bailiff of Guernsey from 1935 to 1946. Carey was a leading member of one of Guernsey's oldest families. In 1935, when incumbent Baliff Arthur W ...

Bailiff of Guernsey The title Bailiff of Guernsey has been used since at least the 13th century and indicated the leading citizen of Guernsey. The 90th and current Bailiff is Richard McMahon. History A ''Bailli'', the early Norman name for Bailiff was the perso ...

from 1935 to 1946, have attracted considerable criticism for emphasising passive collaboration and opposing acts of resistance. However, in some instances, Leale took a stand against the Germans, if he considered that they were in violation of the Hague Convention, to which (in Leale's words) the controlling committee had "wed" itself. Opponents of Leales' elevation to knighthood, on 11 December 1945, have described him as a traitor. Leale has been criticised as a collaborator and for providing the names of Jews to the Nazis; three women from the island were subsequently murdered at the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. An avenue and a building on Guernsey are named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leale, John 1892 births 1969 deaths Guernsey judges Knights Bachelor British collaborators with Nazi Germany Holocaust perpetrators