The PAPA JACK'S Room. Papa Jack was
the pet name for the second Sir John Leslie to distinguish him
from his father the first baronet and from his son Jack who took
up the Irish cause and changed his name to Shane. The first Sir
John painted Papa Jack in the uniform of a Grenadier Guards officer
and this picture hangs outside this room.
Papa Jack was also Colonel of the Monaghan Militia. However,
he hated his duty of attending public hangings, failed to blow
up a certain bridge through plain ignorance, and even drilled
the enemy IRA militia by mistake. Absent-minded and amiable,
he was an amusing storyteller who could entertain the dinner
table for hours on end. He married the lovely Leonie Jerome the
younger sister of Jenny Churchill, and took over Castle Leslie
from his aging parents when they decided to settle in London.
He was also a good painter. The two swan panels are painted by
him as are the portraits of himself and his wife Leonie in the
Blue Drawing room. He also painted the golden child in the corner
using a grumpy grandson Desmond as his model. He died in his
nineties in January 1994 and was laid in the family vault.
In this room, you'll find gothic marbles with saints' niches,
ogeeve arches and a marble relief depicting the baptism of Christ
in Jordan by St. John. Sammy rescued them after they had been
ripped from the once beautiful high altar in Monaghan Cathedral
and dumped in a field by a potty bishop. The present Sir John
Leslie brought the Italian pictures and furniture from his house
in Rome. |
