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.