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 The grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at All Saints' Churchyard, Minstead. Picture by Androom (19 Jun 2010) |
 The grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at All Saints' Churchyard, Minstead. Picture by Androom (19 Jun 2010) |
Leckie, Jean |
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BORN 14 Mar 1874, London: 3, Kidbrook Terrace, Kidbrook, Charlton - DIED 27 Jun 1940, London: 20, Devonshire Place, Marylebone BIRTH NAME Leckie, Jean Elizabeth CAUSE OF DEATH intestinal obstruction GRAVE LOCATION Minstead, Hampshire: All Saints' Churchyard |
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Jean Leckie was the daughter of the silk merchant James Blythe Leckie. She was an intellectual, a fine horsewoman and a trained singer. On 15 March 1897 she met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and it was love at first sight for both. At 26 November 1897 she dined at Doyle's house at Undershaw. But Doyle was married and they decided that their love had to remain platonic. His wife Louise had been ailing for years but his objective was that she should never be hurt by his love for Jean. Doyle's mother was fully into his secret and she even supported Jean, who struggled with the situation as well as Conan Doyle. The situation lasted for almost ten years until Louise died in 1906. He married Jean in 1907 at Saint Margaret's Church in Westminster, London. She did not like his children from his first wife around, but they had three children together and their marriage was a very happy one. Like many people that lost beloved ones during the First World War Doyle was deep into spiritualism. Although Jean initially did not believe in spiritualism, Doyle was convinced that she was a medium and at a certain point she agreed to her part. In 1923 she stated in an interview that she became a spiritualist after the Battle of the Marne, where her brother was killed. She claimed that as an automatic writer, she was unconscious of what she wrote but that she was sure that is was a direct communication from the other side. The marriage lasted until Doyle's death in 1930. After Doyle's death she claimed to receive messages from him. By 1936 she suffered from cancer and she died in 1940. After her death family members claimed to have been in contact with her soul. Family • Husband: Doyle, Arthur Conan (1907-1930, London: St.Margaret's Church, Westminster) Events |
| 15/3/1897 | Arthur Conan Doyle meets Jean Leckie and falls in love with her immediately. It happened during a visit to London and it was love at first sight for both of them. Doyle was married and his wife suffered from ill health. Jean was only 23 years old at the time and Doyle was 37. They entered into a platonic relationship platonic until the death of his wife Louise. All the time Jean pretended to be a friend while they conducted their discreet affair. Doyle's mother knew about it and acted as a chaperone when they met in hotels. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ] |
| 23/12/1898 | Jean Leckie attends Conan Doyle's grand fancy dress ball at the Hindhead Beacon Hotel. She was disguised as one of the Queens Maries. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ] |
| 0/7/1901 | Jean Leckie wins a bronze medal as a vocalist in the London Academy of Music's public examination. |
| 18/9/1907 | Arthur Conan Doyle marries Jean Leckie. They married at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. His brother Innes Doyle was best man and Cyril Angeli married them. They held a reception at Whitehall Rooms in the Hotel Metropole that was attended by Bram Stoker, J.M. Barrie, Max Pemberton and Jerome K. Jerome. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ][Stoker, Bram] |
| 25/5/1923 | Arthur Conan Doyle visits the shooting of "Rosita" with Mary Pickford. Doyle and his wife Jean posed with Pickford for photographs. Douglas Fiarbanks joined the scene as well. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ] |
| 13/7/1930 | 8,000 people attend the memorial service for Arthur Conan Doyle. It was held at the Albert Hall in London. The spiritualist medium Estelle Roberts claimed that she saw Conan Doyle walking to the empty square between his widow Jean and his son Denis. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ] |
| 7/7/1955 | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is reburied at Minstead. Doyle and his wife Jean Leckie were buried in the garden of their house Windlesam in Crawborough, Sussex. When the house was sold, the family transported the coffins to Minstead, Hampshire. An open air service was held in the presence of family an friends. [Doyle, Arthur Conan ] |
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The grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at All Saints' Churchyard, Minstead. Picture by Androom (19 Jun 2010) |
The grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at All Saints' Churchyard, Minstead. Picture by Androom (19 Jun 2010) |
Sources • Higham, Charles, The Adventures of Conan Doyle, Pocket Books, New York, 1978 • Jones, Kevin I., Conan Doyle And The Spirits, The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, 1989 • Afflictor.com · Old Print Article: “Lady Doyle Tells How She Became A Spiritualist And Why She Knows She Can Talk With The Departed,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1923) • Chronology - The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia • Jean Elizabeth Leckie - The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia |
