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[[File:Sir George Alexander Leith.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Sir George Alexander Leith]]
[[Major General]] '''Sir George Alexander William Leith, 2nd Baronet''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB}} (1766 – 25 January 1842)<ref>{{cite book |title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |date=1914 |publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Pf8cAAAAYAAJ/page/n522 325] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Pf8cAAAAYAAJ |quote=Sir George Alexander William Leith. |accessdate=2 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref> was the first Lieutenant-Governor of [[Penang Island|Prince of Wales' Island]] (Penang Island), taking the reins over from [[George Caunter]], a magistrate who was acting superintendent following the resignation and departure of the last [[Governor of Penang|governor]], Superintendent [[Major Forbes Ross MacDonald]]. Leith served in that position from his arrival in 1800 until 1804.<ref>Fort William-India House Correspondence and Other Contemporary Papers Relating Thereto By National Archives of India, Bengal (India), East India Company Published by Manager of Publications; Vols. 1-12: Public series; vols. 13-19: Foreign, political, and secret; vols. 20- : Military series; p. 445</ref><ref name="aar1807">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=745JAAAAMAAJ|title= The Asiatic Annual Register For The Year 1807, Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia: Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia|editor=Lawrence Dundas Campbell|publisher=J. Debrett|date=1809|volume=9|pages=22, 23, 160|accessdate=2016-05-05}}</ref>

==Military career==
He was appointed an ensign in the 88th Foot in 1779 and served in Jamaica. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1780. He returned to England in November 1781 and moved to the 2nd Battalion of the Royals. He transferred to the 71st Foot in Madras in 1786. In 1789 he was appointed brigade-major and served under Major-General Sir [[William Meadows]] and Governor of India, [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Lord Cornwallis]]. He was at the sieges of Bangalore and Sevendroog, the Storming of [[Tippu Sultan|Tippoo]]'s lines and the surrender of [[Srirangapatnam|Seringapatam]]. He was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant 74th Foot on 1 November 1792 and then to captain in the 73rd on 7 March 1795.<ref name="rivington">Annual Register Or A View Of History And Politics Of The Year 1842 edited by Edmund Burke Printed For J. G. F & J Rivington and &c., 1843; Item notes: v.84 1842; pp. 246, 247</ref><ref name="gm">The Gentleman's Magazine Published by [s.n.], 1842; p. 552</ref>

He served as [[aide-de-camp]] to the [[Governor-General]] in 1793 and as [[brigade major]] to the King's troops in [[Bengal]] in 1794.<ref name="rivington"/><ref name="gm"/>

In 1797 he sailed on the projected Manila expedition.<ref name="rivington"/><ref name="gm"/>

==Governorship of Penang==
In February 1800 Leith was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales' Island and invested with the whole civil and military authority; on 20 April he arrived and took charge of the government. The Governor-general in council had selected him for the office of Lieutenant-Governor from his personal knowledge of Leith's integrity, prudence and firmness and by his lordship's conviction that the services of Leith would be eminently useful in securing to the company all advantages to be derived from the important settlements (on Prince of Wales' Island).<ref name="aar1807"/>

Shortly after Leith's arrival on the island he deputed Caunter, now First Assistant, to negotiate a treaty with [[Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II of Kedah|Dziaddin Mukarram Shah II]] for the cession of a 60-square-mile coastal strip on the mainland, until then part of the [[Kedah Sultanate]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Langdon|title=Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India. 1805-1830. Volume One: Ships, Men and Mansions|year=2013|publisher=Areca Books|pages=219}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Langdon|title=Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India. 1805-1830. Volume Two: Fire, Spice and Edifice|year=2015|publisher= George Town World Heritage Incorporated|pages=54}}</ref> The acquired territory was renamed Province Wellesley after [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley]], the Governor-General of India.<ref>A History of Malaya: By J. Kennedy. 2nd Ed - by Joseph Kennedy - Malaya - 1970 - Page 79</ref> The Prince of Wales' Island, together with Province Wellesley, now formed the Settlement of Penang (the island having been locally known as Pulau Pinang, where in the Malay language "pulau" means "island" and "pinang" is the name of a variety of local palm tree).

In the words of Leith, writing in 1804, ''"The immediate advantages arising from the acquisition were, the obtaining of the entire command of the Harbour, which before was never possessed; the reducing of the Peoples of Prya into some degree of order, and a considerable increase in the value of the Opium and Arak farms."''<ref>{{cite book|author= Andrew Barber |title= Penang under the East India Company. 1786-1858|year=2009|publisher=AB&A|pages=73}}</ref> The treaty also provided for the free flow of food and commodities from Kedah to Penang and Province Wellesley,<ref>{{cite book|author= Andrew Barber |title= Penang under the East India Company. 1786-1858|year=2009|publisher=AB&A|pages=75}}</ref> while for Kedah it provided a protective strip against enemy attack from the sea.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Langdon|title=Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India. 1805-1830. Volume Two: Fire, Spice and Edifice|year=2015|publisher= George Town World Heritage Incorporated|pages=54}}</ref>

Leith received a majority in the 17th Foot on 1 January 1800 and a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 2nd West-India Regiment on 13 June 1805.<ref name="rivington"/><ref name="gm"/> In 1805, because of his part in quelling a rebellion, he was presented with a set of porcelain by the King of Burma. At this time he had also completed, and caused to be published, a book about Prince of Wales Island.<ref>A short account of the settlement, produce, and commerce of Prince of Wales' island, in the straits of Malacca. By Sir George Leith. London, 1805.</ref> He continued as Lieutenant-Governor of Penang until 5 January 1804, when he was succeeded by Sir [[Robert Townsend Farquhar]].<ref name="rivington"/><ref name="gm"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Langdon|title=Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India. 1805-1830. Volume One: Ships, Men and Mansions|year=2013|publisher=Areca Books|pages=226–229}}</ref>

==Subsequent activities==
Leith was on the point of embarking for the West Indies, when he was ordered to Ireland as Assistant Adjutant-General of the British forces there. He attained the [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] rank of colonel in 1813, major-general in 1819, and on 20 November the same year he was appointed colonel of the 9th Royal Veteran Battalion. He was made a Knight-Commander of the Order of the Bath.<ref name="rivington"/><ref name="gm"/>

In 1805 he wrote and had published the book, "A Short Account of the Settlement, Produce, and Commerce of Prince of Wales Island, in the Straits of Malacca".<ref>A Short Account of the ---Settlement, Produce, and Commerce of Prince of Wales Island, in the Straits of Malacca By George Leith, Sir George Leith Published by Printed for J. Booth, 1805</ref>

In the 1830s he is recorded as living in a large townhouse, 41 Melville Street, in the west end of [[Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/83400891|title=Edinburgh Post Office annual directory, 1832-1833|last=|first=|date=|website=National Library of Scotland|page=108|accessdate=2016-05-05}}</ref>

He died in [[Scotland]] in 1842. [[Leith Street, George Town|Leith Street]] in Penang is named after him.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{s-reg|gb-bt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir Alexander Leith, 1st Baronet (created 1775)|Alexander Leith]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leith-Buchanan baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Burgh St Peter)'''|years=1780–1842}}
{{s-aft|after=Alexander William Wellesley Leith}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leith, George Alexander William}}
[[Category:Date of birth missing]]
[[Category:1766 births]]
[[Category:1842 deaths]]
[[Category:Administrators in British Penang]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain]]
[[Category:History of Penang]]

George Alexander William Leith - Revision history

>Tom.Reding: +{{Authority control}} (3 IDs from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on