Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/326

Leake potentiary at Utrecht, and Leake continued, as before, to act as chairman. Meantime, in 1711, he had for some months command of the fleet in the Channel ; and in July 1712 was sent to take possession of Dunkirk, according to the treaty. Though still commander-in-chief, it does not seem that he actually hoisted his flag in 1713. From 1708 to 1714 he represented the city of Rochester in three successive parliaments.

Leake's appointment as chairman of the board of admiralty and the patent as rear-admiral of Great Britain died with the queen, and they were not renewed by George I. Leake, though nominally a whig, had kept himself clear from the bitterness of faction. But the advisers of the king held that at that time there could be no neutrality ; and Leake, with many others, was practically shelved. He was granted a pension of 600l., which, in view of the high offices he had held, he considered paltry ; but he refused to allow his claims to be represented to the king, and retiring to a house which he had built near Greenwich, he died there on 21 Aug. 1720. He was buried in Stepney Church, under a monument which he had erected some years before, on the death of his wife.

He married Christian, daughter of Captain Richard Hill, and by her had one son, Richard, a captain in the navy, who died in March 1720, at the age of thirty-eight. His wife's sister, Elizabeth, married Stephen Martin, who served with Leake as midshipman of the Firedrake at Bantry Bay, as lieutenant of the Eagle at La Hogue, and as captain during the greater part of Leake's career as admiral. Martin is always spoken of as Leake's brother-in-law ; and his son, Stephen Martin Leake [q. v.], was Leake's adopted son and heir. JEe has described his uncle and father by adoption as ' of middle stature, well-set and strong, a little inclining to corpulency,' with a florid complexion, open countenance, and sharp, piercing eyes ; 'though he took his bottle freely, as was the custom in his time in the fleet, yet he was never disguised, or impaired his health by it;' 'a virtuous, humane, generous, and gallant man.' On his being returned for the third time for Rochester in 1713, he presented the corporation with his portrait, by De Coning ; it is now in the guildhall of Rochester (information from Mr. Prall, town clerk). Another portrait, by Kneller, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. A third portrait, by Jonathan Richardson, is at Trinity House.