Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, (1 August 1876 – 29 September 1955) was a
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
officer,
Conservative politician, and colonial governor. He served as
Governor of Bombay
Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...
from 1923 to 1926 and as
Governor of Queensland from 1932 to 1946.
Personal life
Wilson was the son of Henry Wilson, a stockbroker, and his wife Ada Alexandrina (née Orme), and was educated at St Michael's School,
Westgate Westgate or West Gate may refer to:
Companies
* Westgate Resorts, a real estate company and timeshare company
* Westgate Department Stores, the department store division of Anglia Regional Co-operative Society in the United Kingdom
Events
* Westg ...
, and
St Paul's School, London.
Wilson married Winifred May, daughter of Charles Smith, of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia, in 1909.
They lived at the Manor House at
Waltham St Lawrence
Waltham St Lawrence is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire.
History
The name 'Waltham' is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon words ''Wealt'' and ''Ham'', meaning 'dilapidated homes'.Ford, David Nash (2 ...
in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
. They had three children, two sons and a daughter:
* Peter Leslie Orme, born 4 June 1910 in London, farmer and grazier, died 6 July 1980 aged 70 years in Queensland and buried in
Caloundra cemetery;
* David Orme, who was killed on 30 November 1941 in North Africa during the Second World War;
* Marjorie Orme.
On his retirement as
Governor of Queensland, Wilson and his wife Winifred returned to live in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, England.
However, they visited Queensland on a number of occasions, including the marriage of their son Peter.
Wilson died after being hit by a truck while walking in September 1955, aged 79.
Military service
Wilson was commissioned into the
Royal Marine Light Infantry and served in the
Second Boer War, where he was wounded,
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
and awarded the
Queen's South Africa Medal with five clasps and the
Distinguished Service Order. In 1901 he achieved the rank of captain.
From 1903 to 1909, Wilson served as
aide-de-camp to the
Governor of New South Wales
The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...
,
Sir Harry Rawson
Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, (5 November 1843 – 3 November 1910) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy. He is chiefly remembered for overseeing the Benin Expedition of 1897, a British punitive expedition against the Kingdom of Benin ...
.
During the First World War Wilson commanded Hawke Battalion of the
Royal Naval Division with the rank of temporary
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
in the
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
and fought at
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 ...
, where he was again mentioned in despatches, and in France, where he was severely wounded.
On 2 December 1915, Wilson was carrying dispatches on the Greek ship ''Spetzia'' when officers from a German submarine boarded the ship and captured him and another officer, Colonel Napier.
Political life
In January 1910, at the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, Wilson unsuccessfully stood as the
Conservative candidate for
Poplar. In December 1910, he was
Unionist candidate for
Reading, but was defeated by the sitting
Liberal candidate,
Sir Rufus Isaacs, the
Attorney-General.
In 1913 Wilson was returned to Parliament for
Reading, a seat he held until 1922.
In 1919 Wilson was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Shipping in the
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
headed by
David Lloyd George, a position he held until the Ministry of Shipping was abolished in 1921, and then served as
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from 1921 to 1922. He was also the Conservative Chief Whip.
At the
1922 general election Wilson abandoned his Reading constituency to contest the
Westminster St. George's division, but was defeated by an Independent Conservative. However within a few weeks he was re-elected at a by-election at
Portsmouth South. He was again Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from 1922 to 1923 under
Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
and later
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
, and was admitted to the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
in 1922.
Vice-regal service
Governor of Bombay
In July 1923 Wilson resigned from this position and his seat in the
House of Commons on his appointment as
Governor of Bombay
Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...
. Wilson remained in Bombay until 1928. In the
1929 New Years Honours
The 1929 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were ...
he was appointed Knight Grand Commander of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.
Governor of Queensland
In 1932 Wilson was made
Governor of Queensland, a post he held until 1946, one of the longest gubernatorial tenures in British history. He was the longest serving Governor of the state.
On 13 May 1937, Wilson planted a small
bunya tree on
North Quay, Brisbane to mark the name change of the River Road to
Coronation Drive to commemorate the coronation of
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
.
From 1932 to 1942, Wilson was the Chief Scout of
The Boy Scouts Association's Queensland Branch, resigning in 1943 when he disagreed with the decision to make the Chief Commissioner a paid position.
[BIOGRAPHICAL DETAIL: Colonel Sir Leslie Orme WILSON, G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., D.S.O.](_blank)
, (research by Owen Richmond for his Woodbadge Project, 24 January 2006), retrieved 5 March 2011.
Freemasonry
Wilson was a
freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
. He was initiated into the craft in the Lodge Ionic No. 65, in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, while serving as an aide-de-camp to
Harry Rawson. When he returned to England, in 1909, he became a member of Navy Lodge No. 2612. He became Senior Warden of the Lodge in 1913 and Worshipful Master in 1917. He was the Primus Master of Old Pauline Lodge No. 3969 consecrated on Friday 18 July 1919. In 1922 he was appointed Junior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England and District Grand Master of Bombay in the following year. To this day there is a Lodge in
Pune, Leslie Wilson Lodge No. 4880 EC, named for him. When he was appointed Governor of Queensland, he became Grand Master of Queensland's Grand Lodge serving for 12 years. After arriving in
Brisbane aboard the on Monday, 13 June 1932, Wilson proceeded to the Queensland Parliament House, where he was sworn in as the 15th Governor of Queensland and representative of His Majesty King George V. At the Regular Meeting of Lamington Lodge, No. 110 UGLQ, held on Thursday, 6 July 1933, a motion was passed that
RW Brother Wilson PDGM (Bombay), PGD (England) be accepted as a joining Brother to Lamington Lodge. The Master read a letter from the United Grand Lodge of Queensland, dated Wednesday, 14 June, covering a special dispensation to ballot at the same meeting. After the ballot, the Master declared Wilson was duly elected a member of Lamington Lodge. The following year, on Wednesday, 25 July 1934, Wilson was invested and installed as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland. He was proclaimed as the Grand Master for the last time, on Wednesday, 24 July 1945, marking his entry upon his twelfth year as the Grand Master.
Honours
Wilson was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
in 1916, a
Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1923, a
Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India in 1929 and a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1937.
References
External links
*
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Leslie Orme
1876 births
1955 deaths
British Freemasons
Military personnel from London
British World War I prisoners of war
World War I prisoners of war held by Germany
Royal Marines officers
Royal Marines personnel of World War I
Royal Navy personnel of the Second Boer War
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Governors of Bombay
Governors of Queensland
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1910–1918
UK MPs 1918–1922
UK MPs 1922–1923
People educated at St Paul's School, London
Road incident deaths in England
People from Waltham St Lawrence