Henry Leach

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Conyers Leach, (18 November 1923 – 26 April 2011) was a Royal Navy officer who, as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff during the early 1980s, was instrumental in convincing the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, that retaking the Falkland Islands from Argentina was feasible. On account of the determination he showed in the matter, journalist and political commentator Andrew Marr described him as Thatcher's "knight in shining gold braid". Early life Henry Leach was born the third son of John Leach, a naval officer, and Evelyn Burrell Leach (née Lee). He was educated at St Peter's Court, Broadstairs, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Naval career Leach joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1937. After the Second World War started in 1939, he served on the battleship in the South Atlantic and the cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Promoted to midshipman on 1 January 1941, he was assigned to . Before he could take up the post, however, his father was given command, so he was reassigned to . Mauritius soon went into refit in Singapore, during which time Leach was assigned to the war room there as a plotting officer. While in Singapore, Prince of Wales was sunk by the Japanese off Singapore, and Leach's father died in this action. His obituary in The Daily Telegraph noted that "[s]urvivors of the action remembered a forlorn midshipman searching for his father, who was among those lost. Only two nights earlier, Leach and his father had enjoyed a gin sling and a swim." His next post was on the destroyer before being promoted to sub-lieutenant on 1 October 1942 and posted to , the flagship of the Home Fleet, in January 1943.