William John Leonard was born in 1877 to Charles and Pamela Leonard in Rochester, Kent, England.
In 1881, aged 4, he is recorded as living with his maternal grandparents James and Susan Robertson, in St Albans Hertfordshire.
In 1891 William was at boarding school at Buckland Hill, Maidstone, Kent, along with his brother James.
In 1901 William is recorded as a visitor to the household of Kate Elizabeth Torond and her daughter Mabel. Kate's son Charles Torond was married to William's sister Pamela in 1899. William's occupation was a carpet shop manager.
William is recorded in the 1904 and 1905 Electoral Rolls as living with his brother Edward Percy Leonard at 190 High Road, Lee.
William John Leonard married Elsie May Gilbert on 1 January 1917, at Godalming in Surrey, England.
William was a soldier at the nearby Witley Camp. He was probably in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, since he had emigrated to Canada in around 1912.
Elsie was born in 1894, in Binderton, Sussex, to Charles Henry Gilbert and Elizabeth Jane Yelland. Charles was a shepherd.
Elsie emigrated to Canada in around 1919, presumably when William was demobilized. They lived in Victoria, British Columbia, and had several children, including Margaret Elizabeth and John Albert Leonard.
William died 11 May 1946, as the result of a fall from a fire escape at the St Josephs Hospital, Victoria, where he had had surgery on 8 May. He was a retired Freightshed Foreman. Elsie died in July 1951.