Category: Military
Rank: Private
Regiment or Ship: Royal Sussex Regiment
Service Number(s): G/1114
Occupation: Electrician
Date of Birth: 1895
Place of Birth: Falmer. Sussex
Date of Death: 1964
Place of Death: Battle registration area
Address: 6 Edinburgh Road, Bexhill on Sea
Photos and newspaper articles
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Family Information
Parents: Rowland Leaney (1870-1933) and Evelina Leaney, nee Boobyer, (1867-1940).
Siblings: Sybil, born 1891 in Lewes.
Rowland senior was a policeman and in 1911 the family were living at The Police Station, Uckfield. At that time Rowland junior was employed as a dairy boy.
First World War Experience
Rowland enlisted on 11th January 1915 and served in France. Although his service records have not survived we have the following report from a local newspaper which gives us a lttle of his previous history.
“Private Rowland Leaney, son of P.C. Leaney, a well-known member of the Bexhill Police Force, worked in the Electric Light Works for nearly two years and joined Lord Kitchener’s’ Army on 11th January at Chichester. Thence he went to Colchester and Dover. He finished his training there and has been at the Front nearly a fortnight.”
Rowland was awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal, and the 15 Star.