James C. Leonard
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Rev. James C.{{efn|It has not been found for what (if anything) this initial stood. His tombstone omits it entirely.}} Leonard BA (1825 – 15 August 1891) was the first Congregationalist minister of Perth, Western Australia. He was headmaster of two private schools in South Australia; near Gawler and at Angaston.
History
Leonard was born in England, a son of John Leonard of Paddington.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65741769 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Inquirer (Perth) supplement |volume=XIV |issue=715 |location=Western Australia |date=8 March 1854 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} Rev. Leonard brother-in-law to Rev. T. W. Charlesworth, Ph.D. He was educated at London University, where he qualified BA, and left for Western Australia aboard the emigrant ship Will Watch with his wife and a small family, arriving in February 1852. He preached his first sermon at the Independent church, Perth, on 29 February 1852.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65484548 |title=Local and Domestic Intelligence |newspaper=The Inquirer (Perth) |volume=XII |issue=610 |location=Western Australia |date=3 March 1852 |access-date=26 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} His wife Mary Ann Leonard, née Rose (1830 – 14 April 1852) died a few months later.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65484426 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Inquirer (Perth) |volume=XII |issue=619 |location=Western Australia |date=5 May 1852 |access-date=26 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} He married again, to Anne Douglas, née Smithers (c. 1815 – 26 April 1908), widow of Captain Harrison Douglas (1818 – 30 June 1852),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65484008 |title=Fremantle |newspaper=The Inquirer (Perth) |volume=XII |issue=628 |location=Western Australia |date=7 July 1852 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} on 26 April 1854{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3175204 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News |volume=7 |issue=332 |location=Western Australia |date=5 May 1854 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and without waiting for a replacement (it took four years),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3046529 |title=New Congregational Church |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=9 |issue=2,219 |location=Western Australia |date=23 March 1893 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} moved in 1856 to Bentley, in the hills near Gawler, South Australia,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76462938 |title=Death of Rev James Leonard |newspaper=The Daily News (Perth) |volume=X |issue=3097 |location=Western Australia |date=4 September 1891 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} where, on top of his clerical duties, he ran a farm. He left the ministry in 1861{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article830243 |title=Gawler |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=III |issue=800 |location=South Australia |date=9 February 1861 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} to conduct a school in Bentley; and in 1869 took over E. P. Nesbit's boys' school at Angaston.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97216645 |title=News of the Week |newspaper=The Bunyip |issue=208 |location=South Australia |date=6 March 1869 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Family
A brother, J. H. Leonard, was a professional painter in oils, based in London, and Rev. Leonard assisted him by finding a market for his work in Adelaide.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43008379 |title=News |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XLI |issue=9339 |location=South Australia |date=19 October 1876 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Professor Read, vicar of Mitcham, South Australia, was a brother-in-law, but details are hard to come by. Read was in 1878 allowed to resign rather than face a tribunal over a morals issue.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197135693 |title=South Australia |newspaper=The Church of England Messenger and Ecclesiastical Gazette for the Diocese of Melbourne and Ballarat |volume=XI |issue=122 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 November 1878 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Leonard died after a long illness; his remains were interred at the Angaston cemetery with those of his wife. His children included:
- James Leonard Jun. ( – ) was in 1878 a clerk with the Bank of South Australia at Georgetown.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92457461 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail |volume=XXI |issue=1,042 |location=South Australia |date=10 August 1878 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} He married Florence Joice Gason on 6 August 1878, and transferred to Gawler in 1880.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218910729 |title=Farewell to Mr Leonard |newspaper=The Areas' Express |volume=III |issue=246 |location=South Australia |date=7 February 1880 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} but was soon proven insolvent{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245313782 |title=Assignment |newspaper=The Gawler Standard |volume=III |issue=121 |location=South Australia |date=1 May 1880 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and was forced to resign. He died before 1908.
- Mary Ann Emily Elizabeth Leonard (12 September 1856{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3177360 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News |volume=8 |issue=454 |location=Western Australia |date=19 September 1856 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} another newspaper reported this event as birth of a son – 1886){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97804970 |title=The Paths of Glory lead but to the Grave |newspaper=The Northern Argus |volume=LXX |issue=3,746 |location=South Australia |date=14 April 1939 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} married Henry Player (1853–1923) on 7 February 1877.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66304408 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Inquirer and Commercial News |volume=XXXVII |issue=2,639 |location=Western Australia |date=25 April 1877 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
- Joseph John Henry Leonard (c. 1863 – 19 November 1929){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246820056 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |issue=15,584 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 November 1929 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} was born in Gawler, South Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207586590 |title=The February Show |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XVII |issue=4,838 |location=South Australia |date=27 February 1880 |accessdate=26 January 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} He was admitted to the civil service as a cadet in 1879,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106562342 |title=The Kapunda Herald |newspaper=Kapunda Herald |volume=XV |issue=1153 |location=South Australia |date=15 July 1879 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and posted to the Colonial Architect's office. A self-taught artist, he achieved some success as a newspaper illustrator in Adelaide and Sydney.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88388477 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Chronicle (Adelaide) |volume=50 |issue=2,593 |location=South Australia |date=2 May 1908 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=44 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54161811 |title=Out among the People |newspaper=The Register News-pictorial |volume=XCV |issue=27,588 |location=South Australia |date=16 January 1930 |accessdate=25 January 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} He signed his work in various ways, including "Leo" and "J. H. Leonard", so may be confused with that of his perhaps more illustrious uncle.
Mrs Leonard had three children from her marriage to Douglas: a son, born 3 January 1852,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65484753 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Inquirer (Perth) |volume=XII |issue=602 |location=Western Australia |date=7 January 1852 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} who may have died in infancy, and two daughters: Mary Douglas (c. 1844–1875) and Anne Douglas, who married (veterinarian) Dr J. W. Horton ( – 26 July 1903){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208757223 |title=Sudden Death of Mr J. W. Horton |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XL |issue=11,943 |location=South Australia |date=27 July 1903 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} and had at least four children.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36468509 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=3 January 1934 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Rev. Leonard's sister Annie Leonard married Rev. T. W. Charlesworth (c. 1823 – 15 December 1879) in Perth on 5 March 1854. They moved to South Australia, living at Sandy Creek, Keyneton, and Angaston, where he practised homeopathic medicine.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197734639 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=XII |issue=3346 |location=South Australia |date=2 January 1880 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Their son James B. E. Charlesworth (18 October 1856 – 11 August 1929) was a first-class cricketer.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29613282 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=14 August 1929 |accessdate=27 January 2022 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Notes
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