Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/287

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Lea]
DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
[Lee

Thomas Henry Walpole, vicar of Winslow, Bucks, who married secondly, in 1887, A. R. Waylen, M.D., colonial surgeon, Western Australia. He was knighted by patent in 1876.

Learmonth, Somerville Livingstone, was the plaintiff in the great case of Learmonth v. Bailey, which concerned the ownership of the Egerton Mine, near Ballarat, and was tried before the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1876. Mr. Learmonth now resides in Great Britain.

Learmonth, Thomas Livingstone, is the son of the late Thomas Learmonth, a well-known settler in Tasmania, and was born in 1818. Having been attracted to the new settlement at Port Phillip, he started with a pioneering party from the shores of Corio Bay, in August 1837, to explore the unknown country to the north-west, directing their course, in the first instance, to Mount Buninyong, near to which, in conjunction with his brother, Somerville Livingstone Learmonth, Mr. T. L. Learmonth subsequently entered on pastoral pursuits on the fine country the party then discovered farther to the north-west. In the following year the two brothers and some friends explored the course of the Loddon, and reached a prominent peak, which they afterwards called Ercildoune, from an old keep on the Scottish border associated with their ancestral history. Here the brothers established a second station. After many years of prosperity the Messrs. Learmonth disposed of their Buninyong property, and subsequently sold the famous Ercildoune estate to Sir Samuel Wilson. Mr. Learmonth was for some time a member of the Upper House in Victoria, and finally left for England in 1868. Mr. Learmonth, who now resides at Park Hall, Polmont, N.B., and is a J. P. for Stirlingshire, married, firstly, in 1857, Louisa, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Thomas Valiant, who died in 1878; and, secondly, in 1879, Jane Florence Harriett, daughter of the late Lestock Reid, of the Bombay Civil Service.

Leary, Joseph, M.L.A., was born in 1831 in Sydney, and was educated at St. Mary's Seminary, at Sydney College under Mr. Cape, and for two years at the Sydney University. He was returned to the Assembly for Narellan in 1861, and in 1863 was admitted an attorney and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Whilst representing Murrumbidgee, in the Assembly—having been elected for that district in 1874—he took office as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction in the Farrell Government in Dec. 1877, and retired with his colleagues on their defeat in Dec. 1878.

Le Cren, Charles, J.P., was born in London, and arrived in Victoria in 1849, joining the Government service in 1857 in connection with the Yan Yean water supply scheme, which was amalgamated with the Public Works Department, of which he was appointed secretary in 1878, and held the post till his death in 1889.

Lee Steere, Hon. Sir James George, J.P., Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Western Australia, is the third son of the late Lee Steere, J.P. and D.L., and formerly M.P. for Surrey, of Jayes Park, Ockley, Surrey, by Ann, second daughter of James Keirs Watson, of Hessle, co. York, and was born in 1830. He was educated at Clapham Grammar School, and emigrated to Western Australia, where he engaged in pastoral pursuits in 1860, becoming a J.P. for the colony in 1861. He was a nominated unofficial member of the old Legislative Council from 1868 to 1890; and on the death of Sir Luke S. Leake he was elected Speaker of that body on June 21st, 1886. He was re-elected on March 13th, 1889, and continued to hold that position till the dissolution of the Legislative Council in 1890, when he was elected for Nelson, and appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. In 1884 Sir James was appointed an unofficial member of the Executive Council, and represented the colony at the first session of the Federal Council of Australasia, held at Hobart in Jan. and Feb. 1886. He discharged the same function at the second and third sessions in 1888 and 1889. In 1890 he acted as delegate of Western Australia to the Federation Conference in Melbourne, and to the Federation Convention in Sydney in 1891. He was knighted in 1888. Sir James married, in 1859, Catherine Anne, only daughter of the late Luke Leake, of Perth, W.A.

Leeper, Alexander, M.A., LL.D., Warden of Trinity College, Melbourne University, is the eldest surviving son of the Rev. Alexander Leeper, D.D., Incumbent of St. Audoen's, and Canon of St. Patrick's