John Leckie

Who was John Leckie?

John William Leckie was an Australian farmer turned politician.

Leckie was born at Alexandra, Victoria and educated at Scotch College, Melbourne. He played Australian rules football for Fitzroy Football Club in 1895. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne for two years, but after falling out with his father he prospected for gold in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and played football in Fremantle. In 1897, he returned to Alexandra to run the family store, his father having died. In April 1898, he married May Beatrix Johnston. His wife died in 1910 and he moved to Melbourne in 1912 and co-founded a firm of lithographic printers and canister manufacturers. He married Hattie Martha Knight in April 1917.

In 1920, the eldest of his daughters from his first marriage, Pattie Maie married future Prime Minister Robert Menzies.