Introduction / Families / Leslie

John Thomas Leslie and Mary Jane Wylie

John Thomas Leslie came to Hammar with his wife, Mary Jane Wylie, and family in late 1937.

He was born on 16th July 1907 to John Leslie and Mary Groat. His mother had gone from one of the Lakequoy houses on Pharay to Benziecott in Westray to be a servant. She married John Leslie Snr. there in 1891. The family continued to live at Benziecott.

John’s second cousin, Henry Leslie, had moved to Holland, Pharay a short time before. (See Leslie Genealogy)

John and Mary married in Firth in 1927. A daughter died the following year, aged only eleven months. A son had been attending the Scapa School before transferring to Pharay.

They moved from Hammar to Cott after a short period, when Angus Harcus left there. The land of Quoy had also been incorporated with Cott previously.

A daughter who came with them to Pharay was one of the last two children to attend the Pharay School before it closed in 1946. She had to leave the family on Pharay to attend school in Westray. Another son may have been the last boy to be born on Pharay.

The family subsequently left the island for Bigswell in Stenness.