father. His portrait, engraved by T. Milton from the painting by R. F. Pine, faces page 408 of Noble's College of Arms.'
Leake married Anne, youngest daughter of Fletcher Pervall of Downton, Radnorshire. They had six sons and three daughters, all of whom survived their father. Leake's widow died in Hertfordshire on 29 Jan. 1782. Three of the sons were connected with the College of Arms. The eldest, Stephen Mart in Leake, was created Norfolk herald extraordinary on 21 Sept. 1761. The second, John Martin, father of Colonel William Martin Leake [q. v.] the classical topographer, was Chester herald from 27 Sept. 1752 till 1791, and was also commissioner for auditing the public accounts (Marsden, Memoir of W. M. Leake, p. 1). He inherited his father's manuscript heraldic collections contained in more than fifty volumes, and furnished information as to his life for Noble's account. George Martin Leake, the youngest son, became Chester herald in 1791.
Leake published:
- 'Nummi Britannici Historia, or an Historical Account of English Money from the Conquest … to the present time,' London, 1626 [-1726], 8vo. A second edition, enlarged, and bearing the title 'An Historical Account,' &c, appeared in 1745, London, 8vo; 3rd edition, London, 1793, 8vo. Ruding (Annals of the Coinage, vol. i. pp. viii, ix) justly says that this treatise has great merit as far as it goes, but its plan is too contracted.
- 'The Life of Sir John Leake … Admiral of the Fleet,' London, 1750, 8vo (only fifty copies printed).
[Noble's College of Arms, pp. 408-14; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. v. 363-8.]
LEAKE, WILLIAM MARTIN (1777–1860), classical topographer and numismatist, born in Bolton Row, Mayfair, London, on 14 Jan. 1777, was the second son of John Martin Leake of Thorpe Hall, Essex, Chester herald and commissioner for auditing the public accounts, by his wife Mary, daughter of Peter Calvert of Hadham. Stephen Martin Leake [q. v.] was his grandfather. He received his professional education at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and with a fellow-student, General Sir Howard Douglas [q. v.], formed a lifelong friendship. He obtained his commission as a second lieutenant in the royal regiment of artillery, and in 1794 was ordered to the West Indies, where he remained four years. In 1799, being now Captain Leake, he was sent on a mission to Constantinople to instruct the Turkish troops in artillery practice. On 19 Jan. 1800 he left Constantinople to join the Turkish army on the coast of Egypt. Leake and his party, in the dress of Tartar couriers, traversed Asia Minor in a south-easterly direction to Celenderis in Cilicia, and crossed over to Cyprus. A treaty being concluded between I the grand vizier and the French, Leake did 1 not at once proceed to Egypt, but visited Telmessus in Lycia, Assus in Mysia, and other ancient sites. He kept an accurate journal, which he published in 1824 as a 'Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor.' Professor W. M. Ramsay (Hist. Geogr. of Asia Minor, pp. 97, 98) remarks that in this work Leake 'made many admirable guesses,' but that he was not long enough in the country for 'his wonderful topographical eye and instinct' to have fair play. Leake returned to Constantinople in June 1800, and shortly afterwards—on the renewal of hostilities—was again instructed to join the grand vizier's army in Egypt. He went by way of Athens, Smyrna, and Cyprus to Jaffa, where he spent the winter making excursions into Syria and Palestine. In March 1801 Captain Leake crossed the desert with the Turkish army into Egypt, but on the capitulation of the French army he was employed (till March 1802) in making a general survey of Egypt in conjunction with Lord Elgin's secretary, William Richard Hamilton. He went as far south as the cataracts of the Nile, and afterwards revisited Syria, which he left in June 1802 for Athens, where he passed the summer exploring the neighbouring country. In September 1802 Leake and Hamilton sailed from the Piraeus in the small vessel hired to convey the Elgin marbles to England. In the wreck of the vessel upon Cerigo all Leake's valuable manuscripts relating to the Egyptian survey perished, though Hamilton's memoranda were saved and made use of in 'Ægyptiaca: the Ancient and Modern State of Egypt,' published by Hamilton in 1810. Leake, travelling through Italy, reached London in January 1803.
In September 1804 he left England on a mission to treat with the governors of the provinces of European Turkey respecting the defence of their frontier against the French. He was instructed to make military surveys and to pay 'particular attention to the general geography of Greece.' He visited Malta, Corfu, and Zante, and landed in the Morea in February 1805, from which date till February 1807 he was constantly engaged in traversing northern Greece and the Morea. Besides identifying ancient sites, Leake was careful to collect Greek coins, especially bronze specimens, which on being found in Thessaly and Macedonia it had been usual for the braziers to melt into kettles and caldrons. It was by means of the coins found
