Count Ernest Leopold Patrick Leslie, Twenty-third Baron of Balquhain

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"Ernest, Count Leslie,

"Twenty-third Baron of Balquhain.

"Ernest, eldest son of John Leslie, twenty-second Baron of Balquhain, by his wife Violet Dalzell, succeeded as twenty-third Baron of Balquhain, on the death of his father, 27th February 1828."

"Ernest Leslie was born at Terregles Castle 28th November 1775. In 1788 he was sent, with his brother John, to the Scotch college at Ratisbon for his education. Having finished his studies there, he determined to make the army his profession. Being precluded at that period by his religion from entering the British army, he resolved to enter the Austrian service. He did this the more willingly, as several members of the family had risen to great distinction in that service. In 1795, when he was twenty years of age, he joined La Tour’s Dragoons as a cadet. In the following year he served at the siege of Kehle, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1798 he served with his regiment in Bohemia, as appears by a letter written to this mother by his brother John, dated at Padua, 1st February 1798. In April 1799 he returned to Scotland to visit his friends. He left Fetternear, 23d September 1799, for Edinburgh, but not finding a vessel there, he returned to Aberdeen, and sailed from thence to Hamburg, 3d October 1799, and reached that city on the 7th after a stormy passage of four days. On the 27th he was at Nuremberg, and in November he was in Augsburg. He was appointed to Hohenloe’s Dragoons, and was present at the battle of Hohenlinden, fought 3d December 1800. In 1803 he was a Horondenka, as appears by a letter written to him by his agent at Vienna, 10th February 1803, informing him that he had 335 florins to be forwarded to him. In 1803 he again returned to Scotland. He arrived at Aberdeen in a ship from Dantzig. His brother Charles went aboard tomeet him, and next day he went out to Fetternear, where he met his brother John for the first time since they had left the college at Ratisbon. He was present at a dinner given on the occasion of his nephew, Thomas Alexander Fraser of Strichen, now Lord Lovat, being served heir to his father. He returned to Germany, and was employed in partisan service. When General Mack surrendered with the Austrian army at Ulm, Lieutenant Leslie had the good fortune to give timely notice of the disaster to Prince Ferdianand of Austria, who was marching with an army to join General Mack, and thus a portion of the Austrian army was saved. Afterwards Lieutenant Leslie was made a captain in Prince Ferdinand’s Hussars. In 1806 he got a troop in Mehrfeldt’s Hulans or Lancers. In 1809 he was appointed to a squadron in Prince Ferdinand’s Hussars. He was present at the battles of Eckmuhl and Ratisbon in April 1809, and Aspen, Eslang, and Wagram, in June 1809. In 1811, he was in Upper Hungary.

When The Emperor Napoleon compelled Austria to join him, and to declare against England, and commenced his campaign against Russia, Ernest Leslie, not wishing to serve in the army of a power which was then acting against his country, obtained leave of absence. He returned to Scotland with his wife, the Baroness Fanny Stillfried, whom he had just married. So strictly were Napoleon’s decrees of blockade of the ports of Europe against England observed, that he had considerable difficulty in leaving the Continent. He was obliged to travel under an assumed name, and at last he reached Denmark, from whence he succeeded in embarking for Scotland. In 1813 he again left Scotland, and went to Prague, where he left his wife and joined his regiment. Soon afterwards he was promoted to a majority in Mehrfeld’s Hulans, was present at the battle of Dresden, 17th August 1813. He was wounded on the following day, and was taken prisoned and sent to France. In passing through Verdun he received assistance from Captain Pattison of the 29th British regiment. He was released at the peace of Paris in May 1814, when he returned to Prague. In 1816 he again visited Scotland, and on the 31st May 1817 he was again at Prague in Bohemia. Soon afterwards he went to Brussels, where his wife’s aunt, the Baroness de Mirwart, lived. At here death she left him her house and plate and some lands in the Ardennes, which, being wooded and wild, he sold far under their value to Mr. Cockerel, who found coal there, and made a large fortune. In 1825 Ernest Leslie again visited Feternear. In 1831 he took up his residence there. In 1834 he went to live at Frankfort.

Ernest Leslie assumed the title of Count, which had been so long borne by the German branch of the family, and the title was allowed him by the Austrian government, who addressed him in all official and military documents as Count Ernest Leslie; and as such he appears in the Almanach de Gotha, amoung the Counts of the Holy Roman Empire.

"Count Ernest Leslie married, 22d January 1812, at Cassorie, in Upper Hungary, the Baroness Fanny Stillfried, daughter of Emmanuel, Baron Stifffried, daughter of Emmanuel, Baron Stillfried, Chamberlain of the Emperor and Knight of Malta, by his wifeTeresa, Baroness Steinbach. She was born at Horn in Autria 20th November 1794 -- her father, then in the army, being stationed there. By her Count Leslie had issue --

" I. John Edward, who succeeded him as twenty-fourth Baron of Balquhain.

" II. Augusta, born 30th May 1815, at Prague, and died there 2d April 1839.

" III. Mary, born 17th January 1817, at Aberdeen. She married, 21st October 1839, Edward, Baron Stillfried, her cousin, then aide-de-camp to General Baron Staner. She has one daughter, Francisca.

"Count Ernest Leslie, twenty-third Baron of Balquhain, died Frankfurt 15th March 1836, and was buried there with military honours. Afterwards his body was brought to Scotland, and was buried in the old chapel at Fetternear, 19th September 1837. He was succeeded by his son John Edward, Count Leslie, twenty-fourth Baron of Balquhain."