Born on 27th July 1898 in Battle Sussex, Second Lieutenant Leathes died in action in France on 18th April 1917, during the Battle of Arras. He was 18 years old. His father was Major Herbert de Mussenden Leathes, OBE (1863-1955), of 5th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales' Own (Yorkshire Regiment). He was also editor of a periodical and a great collector of natural history specimens. His mother was Agnes Isabel Leathes (nee Stephens, 1869-1968).

He also had two older brothers, John Duncan (1896-1932) and William Henry Barnard (1896-1957), as well as a younger sister, Ducibel Maureen Laura (1902-1920).

The 1911 census shows Robert aged twelve boarding at Saint Ronan’s School alongside George Coldham (12) and John Delap (13).

He was known at Saint Ronan’s as “Robin”. In 1910 he won a prize for maths and in 1911 he won the Junior Obstacle race. In 1913, “There was a tremendous struggle for the Victor Ludorum” Leathes was the winner beating by one point Delap; with Whinney, Coode-Adams and Boyd not far behind. That year he also won the Senior Quarter mile with a time of 68 3/5 secs. ”Leathes made a rare hot pace and his time has only been beaten twice at S. Ronan’s”. He also won the 660 Yards and his 6 won the Tug–of-War.

In Cricket he was a player of “distinct promise” and in the 1912 season he scored 82 runs, caught 7 and missed 1. In 1913 he “was top of the averages, possessed great hitting power and a good eye.” In Football he was said to be one of the “most prominent talents”. In 1912 he was described as “a useful member of the side and always worked hard” he was “distinctly the best of the forwards” and had “improved enormously from the year before”. In November 1911 he had received his football colours.

On leaving Saint Ronan’s, Robin went abroad to perfect his modern languages with a view to entering Sandhurst.

It is recorded that he went into the Army in 1914 and was gazetted as a Second Lieutenant on 29th September 1915, at the age of 17, to the Royal Field Artillery.

The 62nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, served with 12th (Eastern) Division which was formed in August 1914 as part of Kitchener's First New Army. They proceeded to France between 29th May and 1st June 1915 landing at Boulogne, they concentrated near St Omer and by 6th June were in the Meteren-Steenwerck area with Divisional HQ being established at Nieppe. The Brigade saw action at The Battle of Loos from 30th September, taking over the sector from Gun Trench to Hulloch Quarries consolidating the position, under heavy artillery fire. During this period at Loos, 117 officers and 3,237 men of the Division were killed or wounded.

On 8th October 1915, they repelled a heavy German infantry attack and on the 13th took part in the action of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, capturing Gun Trench and the south western face of the Hulloch Quarries. By 21st October they moved to Fouquieres-les-Bethune for a short rest then returned to the front line of the Hohenzollern Redoubt until 15th November, when they went into reserve at Lillers.

On 19th January 1916, the Regiment began a period of training in Open Warfare at Busnes, then moved back into the front line at Loos on 12th February 1916. In June they moved to Flesselles and carried out a training exercise. They moved to Baizieux on 30th June and went into the reserve at Hencourt and Millencourt by mid morning on the 1st July. They relieved the 8th Division at Ovillers-la-Boisselle that night and attacked the following morning with mixed success. On 7th they attacked again and despite suffering heavy casualties in the area of Mash Valley, they succeeded in capturing and holding the first and second lines close to Ovillers. They were withdrawn to Contay on the 9th July. They were in action in The Battle of Pozieres on the 3rd August with a successful attack capturing 4th Avenue Trench and were engaged in heavy fighting until they were withdrawn on the 9th.

They moved north and in January 1917 the Division received notice that it would take part in the offensive at Arras. It moved to the front in that sector on 14th January. It did not leave, other than for periods of rest, until 30th October, when they moved to Hesdin for the Cambrai offensive in which the Division suffered heavy losses.

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive that ran from 9th April to 16th May 1917. British, Canadian, South African, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. There were major gains on the first day, followed by stalemate. The battle cost nearly 160,000 British casualties and about 125,000 German casualties. Sadly Second Lieutenant Leathes was killed during this action.

The 1917 Arras battlefield. The attack began from the dotted red line and finally reached the solid red line.

The task of the Division in the Arras attack was to capture the enemy’s “Black Line” (forward position) then go on to the “Brown Line” (the Wancourt-Feuchy trench including the strong point at Feuchy Chapel). The artillery bombardment opened on 4th April 1917, and the infantry – many of whom had been able to approach the front line in the long tunnels and subways reaching out from Arras itself, advanced behind a creeping barrage on 9th April. Resistance was rapidly overcome; fine counter-battery work stifled the German guns. The leading troops quickly captured the Black Line, but German fire increased as successive waves came through to advance on the Feuchy Switch trench, notably from Observation Ridge. In places, the German soldiers were seen retreating at a run. The attack had been highly successful, making an advance on the Divisional front of some 4,000 yards for a total of 2,018 casualties.  

His brothers also served: William as a Second Lieutenant with the Bedfordshire Regiment, 8th (Service) Batallion. John was listed as a Cadet in the Royal Navy on the 1911 Census. He was recorded as a Midshipman on HMS Vanguard in 1913 and in 1918 he was a Lieutenant aboard HMS Maidstone. He went on to become a Lieutenant Commander and was killed off Portland, Hampshire, when his submarine, “Dolphin” was lost in January 1932 along with all of his crew.

Robert is also commemotrated on the Herringfleet War Memorial in Suffolk.

The war poet, Siegfried Sassoon, decorated for his bravery on the Western Front, wrote the following about the Arras Offensive: