Lieutenant Hart Leech was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on March 9, 1889, to parents John Hillyard Leech and Ida L. Leech. In the months prior to his enlistment he was completing his final year as a law student, with the expectation of joining his father’s Winnipeg law firm of Leech, Leech, Sutton & Hamilton.

Leech enlisted in Winnipeg with the 61st Battalion on June 2, 1915. He shipped for England in May 1916 on board the SS Olympic, and in June was deployed to France to join the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Leech was killed in action on September 16, 1916, while serving at the front during the Battle of Mouquet Farm (part of the Battle of Somme). He is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.

Content notes:
In addition to the two family letters written by Leech in 1916, there was a third that was written on the eve of going into battle at Mouquet Farm, but not received by his parents until 1928 as recounted in the newspaper article of that date. Further materials relating to the wartime service of Hart’s father Hillyard Leech, including statements collected by him from soldiers in the field with Hart at the time of his death, can be found in the John Hillyard Leech Collection.

External links:
Lieut. Hart Leech’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [Note: As of June 2024, Leech’s date of death is given as September 15,1916, instead of September 16 as it appears in Leech’s service record, as well as in the WWI Circumstances of Death Registers (record# 46246, page# 441 – please note that page # must be entered manually).]
A memorial page honouring Leech can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. [Note: The CVWM data is sourced from the CWGC, as given above, and therefore also appears as September 15,1916.]

[Collection reviewed/updated July/Aug. 2024.]