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| Thomas Leroy | |
| Medium: | Television, Book |
| Nationality: | American |
| Rank: | Colonel |
| Appearances: | Sharpe's Company, Sharpe's Honour |
| Actor: | Gavan O'Herlihy |
Leroy was an officer of the South Essex, he was born an American from a Loyalist family. After the American Revolution he served in the British army. He was described as a silent man who watched the world with ironic amusement. A man who invariably had a cigar in his mouth.
Novels[]
The son of an American loyalist he was born in Boston, his family was exiled from the new United States with the Patriot victory in the American Revolution. He said that his father had taken an oath to defend the King's Majesty and he inherited the burden. He thought if he had stayed in America, he could have been a general, had streets and towns named for him. He sometimes wondered if he had chosen the right side. "I am an American with a French name from a Royalist family, fighting for the English for a German king." (Sharpe's Company)
In Sharpe's Eagle, Lennox credited Captain Leroy with being "the only other decent soldier in the Battalion." Leroy was of the opinion that Simmerson was a bastard who deserved to have lost both his colours, and that Sharpe deserved the credit for saving one. He took a serious saber wound to the leg at Valdelacasa.
He once told Sharpe that he envied him, that Sharpe knew where he was going; to the top, wherever that was. Leroy was badly injured during the siege of Badajoz (Sharpe's Company).
In Sharpe's Honour, he took over the brigade, and it was Lieutenant Colonel Leroy who broke up the duel between Sharpe and the Marques when he harshly pointed out it was an odd place to practice at swords, then ordered Sharpe to come with him. He then told Sharpe he'd seen eight-year-olds with better sense, and that Sharpe owed him his career. When the Spaniards offered insult, Leroy, faced them down, "Listen, you son of a whore, you prinked up bastard...there never was a duel! This was a friendly piece of sword practice!" and the Spaniards backed down in the face of his rage.
During the defense of the village of Gamarra Mayor, strategically important for its bridge, he had his horse shot out from under him and lost his cigar. He led his men on foot into the village "with no intention of being defeated in his first battle as Battalion Commander." They then charged the French barricade, and a bullet to the head ended the attack and his life. (Sharpe's Honour)
Television[]
In the television adaptation, he was said to be a native of Virginia, a planter's son, who made his money with the Triangle Trade.