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The following obituary for Leopold George Heath appeared in the Times newspaper.
| Obituary in the Times newspaper | |
| Date | Obituary |
| 9 May 1907 | Admiral Sir L. Heath. We regret to record the death of Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath, K.C.B., which took place, on Tuesday, at his residence, Anstie-grange, Holmwood, near Dorking.Admiral Heath, who was a son of the late Mr. Serjeant Heath, was born on November 18, 1817, and in September, 1830, he joined the Naval College at Portsmouth, where he gained the first medal on passing out the following year. In December, 1840, he was promoted to lieutenant, being fortunate enough on passing his final examination to win a prize commission, for promotion from mate to lieutenant, except for the lucky few, was extremely slow in those days; his good fortune still! followed him, as six and a half years later he became a commander. In July, 1850, he was appointed to the command of the Niger, one of the new steam sloops, and was ordered to the West Coast of Africa, where he saw his first war service, taking part in the attack and destruction of Lagos by the small squadron under the command of Commodore Bruce, which involved some sharp fighting, our loss on the occasion being 15 killed and 75 wounded. At the end of 1852 the Niger was transferred to the Mediterranean, and in the war with Russia, which broke out in the spring of 1854, Commander Heath found his opportunity. In the early part of the operations he was employed in blockade work along the Russian Black Sea coast; but he accompanied the expeditionary force to the Crimea, and acted as Beach-master at Eupatoria during the landing of the troops and stores, on September 14, 1854, and following days. At the bombardment of Sevastopol on October 17, the Niger was told off to tow the London, one of the sailing line of battleships, into action, being lashed on her off-shore side, her men working the London’s upper-deck guns, 200 of that ship’s crew having been landed with the naval brigade. On his birthday Commander Heath received a pleasant surprise, in the shape of his commission as acting-captain, which was subsequently confirmed from home, of the Sans Pareil, Sir Edmund Lyons's flagship, in place of Captain Dacres, invalided; and a few days later he was appointed captain of the port of Balaclava, a position of great responsibility, which brought him prominently forward. During his administration Captain Heath was much exercised in his mind at a severe criticism of the state of the harbour which appeared in The Times, Sir Edmund Lyons, the Commander-in-Chief, was well satisfied with his work, for in January, 1855, he recommended Captain Heath to the Admiralty for the important post of Principal Agent of Transports, "a post" Sir Edmund, in a very flattering letter to Heath, describes as "at this juncture of the highest importance, and whoever may be appointed by the Admiralty may consider it a signal proof of the confidence of the Board. Now I know no man so fit for it as you are." The Admiralty approved Sir Edmund’s recommendation, and Captain Heath held his new appointment until practically the close of the war. How valuable were his services is shown by the fact that, although almost the junior captain employed in the Black Sea, his name appears among the first batch of naval officers selected for the honour of the Companionship of the Bath on July 25,1855; he received in addition the Legion of Honour, the Medjidieh of the 4th Class, with the Crimean and Turkish medals. In July, 1867, he was appointed to the Octavia as Commodore in Command in the East Indies; and he arrived on the station in time to take his part in the necessary preparations for the conveyance of the expeditionary force from Bombay which, under Sir Robert Napier, was directed against King Theodore of Abyssinia, and in the equally important work, which was carried out by the ships of the squadron in making the arrangements at Annesley Bay for the landing of the troops. For his services in connexion with the expedition Commodore Heath received the thanks of Parliament and was created a Knight Commander of the Bath. On his return to England in 1870 Sir Leopold was appointed Vice-President of the Ordnance Select Committee, a post which he held until his promotion to Rear-Admiral in December, 1871, shortly after attaining which rank he retired. Of recent years Sir Leopold had dropped much out of sight as far as the Navy was concerned, but he published in 1897 an interesting little volume of reminiscences, under the heading of "Letters from the Black Sea during the Crimean War, 1854-55," which contains a good deal of useful Information, and, in the appendix, two or three documents of interest, one of them being the despatch of the Duke of Newcastle to Lord Raglan after receiving the reports of the first bombardment of Sevastopol, of the buttle of Balaclava, and that of Inkerman, which contains the striking passage, which might have emanated from Queen Victoria herself "Let not any private soldier in the ranks believe that his conduct is unheeded; the Queen thanks him; his country honours him." Sir Leopold married, in the early part of 1854, Miss Mary E. Marsh, who died in 1902, leaving a family of five sons and two daughters. The eldest son is Mr. Arthur Raymond Heath, who was M.P. for the Louth Division of Lincolnshire from 1866 to 1892; Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Heath, D.S.O., R.E., is the youngest son. |
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