Medical student in England.
Left his studies to try his luck in the goldrush in Victoria, Australia.
On board ship he met Miss Emma Joynes, aged 19. They fell in love and married.
When the ship docked in Melbourne in 1854 they immediately set off for the goldfields. They did not have much luck finding gold, and so they set up a general store on the Glenpatrick Diggings where they did a thriving business.
Unfortunately Mr. Leach suddenly fell sick and died, keaving his widow and 3 children.
### From the Listing at the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriage Register at https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/index-search?action=getHistIdxSearchCriteria:
The Record of Deaths in Avoca says:
Thomas Askew Leach
Profession - storekeeper
Died - 27 August 1861 at Glenpatrick, Avocashire, Victoria
13 years in Victoria at time of death
Death - supposed instantaneous death from apoplexy due to excessive and continued drinking of spiritous liquors
Age - 36
Wife - Emma Joynes - married in Melbourne 1849
Birth Place - London (Well Street, Hackney, Middlesex, England)
Father - Samuel Forest Leach - surgeon
Mother - Annie Wrightson Price
Children :
- Edwin Charles (born 1854)
- Anne Wrightson (born 1856)
- Alice (born 1859)
Buried at Glenpatrick - undertaker Thomas Webber Moore (father-in-law of his daughter Anne)