Shane Leslie (1885-1971)

Born in County Monaghan, Ireland, Sir John Randolph Leslie was the third baronet of Glaslough. He was a cousin of Winston Churchill. He studied at Eton College and at Cambridge, where he converted to Roman Catholicism and became an Irish nationalist. He then used the Irish form of his name, Shane, and renounced the family estate entailed to him. During World War I he served with the British Ambulance Corps and worked to convince the U.S. to enter the war. Sir Shane’s deep concern with the maintenance of Irish and British relationships was most clearly realized when he petitioned Britain to spare the lives of sixteen Irish leaders involved in the 1916 Easter uprising in Dublin. Unfortunately, he did not succeed and the executions were carried out. To the end of his life, Sir Shane believed that some day a united Ireland would coexist amicably with its neighbor Britain. Besides his political interests, Sir Shane was a passionate advocate of reforestation. Sir Shane was also a prolific writer and lecturer on Irish politics, culture, trees, and ghost stories.
(From the Georgetown University Archives website)