Lieutenant Christopher LEATHER
3rd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers attached to Z Company, 1st Battalion

Date of birth: 15th July 1882
Date of death: 26th October 1914

Killed in action aged 32
Commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial Panels 5 and 6
Christopher Leather was born at Tickhill in Yorkshire on the 15th of July 1882 the youngest son of Frederick John Leather JP of Middleton Hall, Belford in Northumberland and Gertrude Elizabeth Sophia (nee Walters) of “The Friary”, Tickhill. He was the one of six soldier brothers, an expert motorist, keen amateur sailor and a fisherman.

He was educated at Hazelwood School and at the Naval College, HMS Worcester.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant the 3rd (Militia) Battalion Durham Light Infantry on the 23rd of December 1899 and proceeded to South Africa in January 1900 where he served with distinction in the Mounted Infantry Company from August 1900 to May 1901. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 12th of March 1901. For his services during the war he was granted a regular commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers on the 4th of May 1901 and served in South Africa until the conclusion of the campaign in May 1902. He saw action in the Cape Colony and in the Transvaal in 1902, receiving the Queen’s Medal with three clasps and the King’s Medal with two clasps. He remained in South Africa after the war until he was posted to Mauritius on the 7th of April 1903.

He resigned his commission on the 21st of October 1903 but re-joined on the 20th of August 1914, when he was appointed as a 2nd Lieutenant to the reserve battalion of his old regiment on the 20th of August 1914, being attached for active service to the 1st Battalion. He embarked for France with his battalion on the 13th August 1914 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 4th of September 1914.

At 1.30 on the morning of the 26th of October 1914 the 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers left their billets to relieve the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment in trenches at Neuve Chapelle. Rain was falling and sniper fire was continuous; one officer was killed by a sniper shortly after dawn. The morning passed uneventfully but at 2.30pm the Germans opened a sudden artillery barrage on the Royal Fusiliers, who were on the Northumberland Fusiliers' left, followed at 3.30pm by a massed infantry attack. The Royal Fusiliers were forced back and the Northumberland men also fell back but at an angle to protect their flank. Despite German assault troops getting into the positions they soon were forced back. After a short lull they attacked again, being driven back once again at the point of the bayonet and by heavy rifle fire. As darkness gathered the Germans attacked again and Z Company was attacked on three sides but, with the company firing both to front and rear, the enemy were repulsed.

Christopher Leather was killed while standing alongside his Company Commander, Captain Gordon, who was the only surviving officer in the company by the end of the action.

His Commanding Officer wrote of him that he was- “A good officer and a cheery friend”

His brother, Captain Edward Wilberforce Leather 2nd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was killed in action on the 18th of April 1915.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Tickhill and on the memorial at Belford in Yorkshire.
 

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