James Graham Leslie (14 November 1868 – 16 May 1949) was a unionist

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. He was born the son of Seymour and Louisa (née Graham) Leslie. His father worked in the Probate Office, London. He inherited the family seat at Leslie Hill, Ballymoney, County Antrim from his uncle. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Antrim The High Sheriff of Antrim is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Antrim. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the high sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judi ...

in 1907. Leslie studied at

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and briefly went into the law, before joining the Contract Department of the

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.John F. Harbinson, ''The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882-1973'', p.205 In 1907, he served as

. He resigned when given control of his family estates, and sat as an

Irish Unionist Party The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and ...

councillor in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

. In 1921, he was elected for the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

to the first

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, and served until his death in 1949. Given his experience in drafting, he played a key role in maintaining the chamber as an institution capable of revising bills from the lower chamber. From 1945 to 1949, Leslie served as the

Lord Lieutenant of Antrim A list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Antrim, located in Northern Ireland. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. G. E. C., ed. Vicary Gibbs, ''The Complete ...

. He married in 1901 Grace, the daughter of J. Lament Brodie of Wimbledon, with whom he had a son, Seymour, and two daughters.

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