John Leith-Ross of Arnage Castle, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, was born on 15 April 1845. He was descended from the Leiths of Freefield and Glenkindle. He entered the army as an ensign in the King’s Own Borderers in July 1864.
1864 Ensign 26 July
1867 Lieutenant 21 Aug
1875 Captain 19 Mar
1881 Major 1 July
1890 Lieutenant-Colonel 10 Sep
Captain Ross served with the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Borderers in the Afghan War of 1878–80, first with the Peshawar Valley Field Force under Lieutenant General Maude, and afterwards with the Khyber Line Force under Lt General Bright, including the reconnaissance in the Shiliman Valley and the attack and destruction of the villages of Nargozi, Arab Kheyl and Jokan (mentioned in despatches and medal).
He served as a major with the 2nd Battalion KOSB with the Suakin Field Force in December 1888 during the investment of Suakin and was present at the battle of Gemaziah (medal with clasp and Khedive’s Star). He also served in the operations on the Sudan Frontier in 1889. Leith-Ross was appointed CO of the 2nd Battalion KOSB on 10 Sep 1890 and commanded the battalion while they served in India.
Major Leith-Ross was married in 1878 to Janet Forbes (1856–1934), daughter of William Lamond of Stranduff.
Hiram Dunn from the Regimental Museum tells me that there is an album of Leith-Ross’s 80 watercolour paintings covering the period of his career from Sandhurst to the Sudan. Many of the paintings are of the 2nd Battalion KOSB when they walked 520 miles across the Hindu Kush. One of his watercolours, painted in the Sudan in 1888, is shown below.
The portrait by Alexander G Beauchamp Cameron is from the Art UK website which states that the original is at Fyvie Castle. The medals are the Afghan Medal, Egypt Medal with clasp and Khedive’s Star. The other two medals, on the right, are the Queen Victoria 1897 Diamond Jubilee medal with a light blue central stripe, and the 1902 Coronation medal showing the joint heads of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
Colonel John Leith-Ross died in Ellon, Aberdeenshire on 5 April 1937, aged 91. He is buried at St Mary’s-on-the-Rock, his gravestone inscribed “Life’s Race Well Run”.
