Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache ( ; 10 June 1884 – 20 February 1917) was a
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
who died during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He has been stated, incorrectly, to have had the longest English surname on record, or the English surname with the most
multiple barrels. His last name is the
double-barrelled "Tollemache-Tollemache"; his other names (including the first instance of "Tollemache-Tollemache") are
forenames which have been mistaken by some chroniclers as part of his last name.
Biography
Leone was born in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, the sixth son of the eccentric clergyman
Ralph Tollemache-Tollemache. He was the eighth of Ralph's many children by his second wife, Dora Cleopatra Maria Lorenza de Orellana. His father gave him, in common with his many brothers and sisters, an unconventional name.
[K. D. Reynolds, "Tollemache, Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache- (1826–1895)", ]Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 200
retrieved 29 October 2008
His surname at birth was "Tollemache-Tollemache", his father having doubled his original surname, "Tollemache", in 1876 after his second marriage. "de Orellana" derives from the
naming customs of Spain, where his mother came from, and is a forename rather than part of his surname. The first "Tollemache-Tollemache" also seems to be an unusual forename. Leone was Ralph's sixth son, hence "Sextus". "Fraudatifilius" is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "son of the
defrauded one". "Leone" repeats a pattern seen in the names of his elder brothers and sisters (Lyonel, Lyonesse, Lyulph, Lyona, Leo, Lyonella and Lyonetta). His first five initials, "LSD OF", may include a reference to the divisions of the pre-decimal British currency,
£sd
£sd (occasionally written Lsd, spoken as "pounds, shillings and pence" or pronounced ) is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe, especially in the British Isles and hence in several countries of the B ...
, for pounds, shillings, and pence followed by half-pence (''ob.'', "
obol") and farthings (''i.e.'', quarter-pence). This may be a reference to a financial dispute between his father Ralph and Ralph's first wife's trustees which had driven him bankrupt in 1863.
Similarly, an elder brother was named Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache—his first 15 initials spell "LYONEL THE SECOND". In practice, Leone shortened his name to "Leone Sextus Tollemache".
He joined the British Army, attending the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...
, in 1902. He was commissioned into the
Leicestershire Regiment
The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both W ...
in 1903. Before the First World War, he served in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
and at
Fermoy
Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the Dái ...
in Ireland.
He married an Irishwoman, Kathleen Mary Mills (daughter of Joseph Mills and Charlotte née Bloomfield), at
Acomb, North Yorkshire
Acomb , is a village and suburb within the City of York unitary authority area, to the western side of York, England. It covers the site of the original village of the same name, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is bordered ...
on 23 April 1914. They honeymooned in Fermoy. Their son, Denys Herbert George, was born on 12 January 1915 in White House in Acomb; Kathleen died in childbirth.
On the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent to France on the
Union-Castle steamer SS ''Braemar Castle'' in September 1914. He kept a personal diary of his experiences. In 1916, Leone was seconded to serve as
brigade major
A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...
in the
3rd Australian Infantry Brigade of the
1st Australian Division after it was redeployed from
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
to
the Somme
The Battle of the Somme (French language, French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. I ...
. He died on active service on 20 February 1917 from
double pneumonia
Pneumonia can be classified in several ways, most commonly by where it was acquired (hospital versus community), but may also by the area of lung affected or by the causative organism. There is also a combined clinical classification, which combi ...
. He is buried in the communal war cemetery in
Dernancourt
Dernancourt (; pcd, Dèrnincourt) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
Dernancourt is situated on the D52 road, some northeast of Amiens.
Population
Places and monuments
The commune was con ...
near
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
.
Leone's elder brother Leo (Quintus Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet) also served in France, in the 1st Battalion of the
Lincolnshire Regiment
The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...
. He went missing, presumed killed, on 1 November 1914 and his body was never found. He is commemorated on the
Menin Gate
The Menin Gate ( nl, Menenpoort), officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves a ...
memorial.
Casualty Details for TOLLEMACHE, LEO DE ORELLANA
from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tollemache, Leone Sextus
1884 births
English people of Spanish descent
1917 deaths
People from Lincolnshire
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers
British Army personnel of World War I
British military personnel killed in World War I
Deaths from influenza
Infectious disease deaths in France
Names by person