Barry Leonard was born in Portsmouth in 1911, the youngest son of Paymaster-in-Chief William Vancouver Theodore Leonard, RN, and Georgina Maud Leonard, who were living at No. 7, The Parade, in HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. In the 1921 Census Barry Leonard was listed as a boarder at the Junior School at King’s Cathedral Grammar School in Rochester and both of his parents were noted as deceased.

He joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman (E) at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham in Devonport on 10 January 1929 for Engineering Training.  He was promoted to Sub Lieutenant (E) on 1 May 1931 and to Lieutenant (E) on 16 April 1933.  On 29 August 1935 Barry Leonard was appointed to the battleship HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH in the Mediterranean.

He joined submarines on 4 January 1937 when he was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘for the Submarine Course’. He embarked in SS RANPURA at London for Hong Kong on 22 October 1937 and joined HMS RORQUAL ‘as the Engineer’ on 15 May 1938.  On his return to the UK he was appointed to HMS PRESIDENT on 26 December 1939 ’for the Engineer-in-Chief’s Department’.

Promotion to Lieutenant Commander (E) followed on 6 April 1941.  On 15th March 1943 Barry Leonard was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS FORTH.  On 15 April 1944 he was further promoted to Acting Commander (E) and was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS CYCLOPS at Rothesay ‘as the Engineer Commander and for Flotilla duties’.

Barry Leonard was accidentally drowned in Rothesay Bay as a result of a sailing accident on 30 April 1944.  Lieutenant Commander Edgar Beldon, also of HMS CYCLOPS, was drowned in the same accident.  Barry Leonard was the husband of Patricia Beatrice Eden Neate – eldest daughter of Commander Charles Eden Neate, RN and Dorothy Tucker. Barry Leonard is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Panel 85, Column 1.

Note:  Patricia Leonard was later married to Lt Cdr (A) William Francis Cuthbert Garthwaite, DSC and Bar, RNVR.