Violet Dalzell

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John Leslie married, at Terregles Castle in Drumfriesshire, 14th November 1774, Violet Dalzell, daughter of John Dalzell, Esq. of Barnquosh (grandson of Sir Robert Dalzell, Bart. of Glenae, and cousin of Robert, Earl of Carnwath, who was attainted and condemned to be beheaded in 1715, but obtained a reprieve), by his wife, the Honourable Harriet Gordon, only daughter of William, sixth Viscount Kenmure, Lord Lochinvar, who suffered for his zeal in the cause of the Stuarts, being beheaded on Tower Hill 24th February 1716. William, Viscount Kenmure had married the Honourable Lady Mary Dalzell, sister of Robert, Earl of Carnwath, so that Violet Dalzell's father and mother were cousins. She was a lady possessing great beauty and personal charms, adorned with every virtue, and of graceful and pleasing manners. By her John Leslie had issue --

  I. Ernest Leopold Patrick, who succeeded him as twenty-third Baron of Balquhain.

  II. John, born at Tullos 1st May 1780.  He was sent with his elder brother, Ernest, to the Scotch college at Ratisbon in Bavaria, in 1789, when he was only nine years of age.  In 1795 he returned to Scotland, and, as he intended to enter the Austrian service, he prepared himself for the military profession by mathematics and the art of fortification.  He left Fetternear 4th October 1797, and sailed from Leith 13th October for the Continent, and proceeded to Vienna.  In a letter to his mother, dated 4th December 1797, he stated that he had been kindly received by Major-general Worensdorff, of the Polish Guards, also by Prince Lobkowitz, to whose regiment of Light Dragoons he had been appointed, and that he was about to proceed to Italy, to join his regiment, which was then serving in that country; and that he proposed to call on Count Leslie as he passed through Gratz to Styria, on his way to Italy, because the English ambassador at Vienna had told him that Madame Buchenberg, wife of Count Lilsen, colonel of the regiment in which his brother Ernest was serving, had mentioned to the ambassador that Count Leslie had said that he wished to see some member of the family.  By another letter from him, dated at Padua, 1st February 1798, we learn that he left Vienna 12th January of that year, and had called upon Count Leslie in Gratz, and that he had joined Prince Lobkowitz's Light Calvalry regiment as a cadet.  He likewise mentions that his brother Ernest was then with his corps in Bohemia.  In another letter, dated 18th February 1798, he says that his uniform was white with blue facings and he was learning his exercises.  In a letter written to his father, dated in camp under the Alps at Venola, three miles behind Genoa, 22d December 1798, he states that he had been wounded in the leg on 17th October, but that he did not go to the hospital at Lodi, as he had soon got well again, and had since been in several engagements.  The greatest battle, he says, was at Genola, 4th December 1798.  He was at the siege of Alexandria, July 1799.  By a letter, dated near Tortona, 29th July 1799, he informs his friends that he had been engaged on the 19th, 20th, and 22d June at the battles which took place at the castle of St. Giovanni.  He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and attached to the staff of Marshal Suwarroff as an orderly officer.  He was present at the battle of Novi, 15th August 1799; at the siege of Genoa, in April 1800; at the battle of Marengo, 14th June 1800; at the battle of the Mincio, 25th December 1800.  He afterwards returned to Scotland, and attended the funeral of his brother-in-law, Alexander Fraser of Strichen, in 1803.  He took a passage in a foreign vessel then lying at Aberdeen, and about to sail for Dantzig, he having the intention of rejoining his regiment then in Poland.  The vessel sailed from Aberdeen 3d December 1803, and was never afterwards heard of.  It was supposed that she foundered at sea, and that all on board perished.

  III. Joseph Emmanuel Leslie, born 5th October 1781, and died 21st December 1784.

  IV.  James Michael, born 25th April 1784.  He succeeded his nephew Count John Leslie as twenty-fifth Baron of Balquhain in 1844.

  V. Charles, born 24th April 1785.  He succeeded his brother, James Michael Leslie, as twenty-sixth Baron of Balquhain in 1849.

  VI. Anthony, born 30th November 1787. He entered the British army in 1808, and served in North America with the 8th Regiment.  He got a lieutenancy in the Glengary Rifle Corps, and was present at all the engagements in which that distinguished corps signalised itself during the war in Canada, from 1812 to 1814.  He settled in Canada, where he remained for many years, and then returned to England and took up his residence in London, where he still lives.  He married, in January 1840, Ann Monagan, but had no issue.

  VII. Edward, born 30th September 1792.  He was an Ensign in the German Legion.  He died of a decline at Fetternear, 20th May 1813.

  VIII. Louis Xavier, born 14th October 1793.   Twin brother of Francis Robert.  He entered the British army, in which he attained the rank of major.  He served in Canada in 1813, during the war; in France, after the battle of Waterloo; at the Cape of Good Hope, during the Caffre War, where he was much engaged with his regiment, the 72d Highlanders.  He resides at Tillydrone, Old Aberdeen.

  IX. Francis Robert, born 14th October 1793.  Twin brother of Louis Xavier.  He entered the British army, and served in the German Legion.  He joined the army in Spain under the Duke of Wellington, and during the operations in the south of France in 1814.  He was at the siege of Bayonne, the battle of Toulouse, and the battle of Waterloo.  He was one of the officers who took possession of the Bariere de l'Etoile at Paris in 1815.  He died at Leslie Lodge, 17th July 1831.

  X. Amelia, born at Kingswells 24th April 1777; married in 1801 to Alexander Fraser, Esq. of Strichen, by whom she had a son, Thomas Alexander, Lord Lovat.  She died 27th August 1860.

  XI. Harriet Ann, born at Tullos 24th November 1778.  She died unmarried at Fetternear 6th June 1805, and was buried in the old chapel there.

  XII. Teresa Frances, born 27th March 1783.  She died unmarried at Fetternear, of a decline, 31st May 1801.

  XIII. Helen, born at Fetternear 17th May 1786.  She died unmarried at Edinburgh of a decline, 20th December 1811, and was buried in the Canongate church.

  XIV. Violet Winnifred, born at Fetternear 18th April 1789.  She is unmarried, and resides in Aberdeen.

  XV. Margaret Catherine, born 5th June 1790.  She died unmarried, of a decline, at Leslie Lodge, 4th September 1830, and was buried in the old chapel at Fetternear.

John Leslie, twenty-second Baron of Balquhain, died 27th February 1828, aged seventy-seven, and was succeeded by his eldest son Ernest, Count Leslie, twenty-third Baron of Balquahain. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Violet Leslie went to live at Leslie Lodge, or Aquhorties, where she died, 23d September 1836, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. This venerable lady was upwards of sixty years resident on the estate of Balquhain, beloved and respected by all classes in the country. She retained all her faculties to the last; and as she possessed a peculiarly retentive memory, her conversation was most interesting and entertaining, especially when she related stories of 1715 and 1745, which she had heard from her relations and friends, many of whom had suffered in the Stuart cause. She used to tell how she and her sisters dressed themselves up in the cloak and gown of the brave Countess of Nithsdale, in which her husband, the Earl, effected his escape from the Tower of London -- the relics being preserved in the Castle of Terregles, of which her father had a lease from the Nithsdale family. She used also to tell how, when she was at school at the convent at York, the head of her grandfather, Lord Kenmure, still remained on the Michaelgate Bar, and when it was taken down by the order of the government, all the people congratulated her.