Flying Officer, RAF
Born: October 6th 1914
Died: September 6th 1943
Age at Death: 28
Killed in action, September 5th 1943
House Prefect 1932
School Prefect 1933
2nd XV 1932-1933
Derek was born on 6 October 1914 in India, to Ernest Leader-Williams – a descendant of Sir Edward Leader-Williams, the Victorian engineering hero who designed the Manchester Ship Canal – and his wife Marguerite (née Vigers). He was a School Prefect at the College, and won a prize for French.
On the outbreak of war Leader-Williams enlisted in the RAF and was attached to 12 Squadron, a bomber unit based at RAF Downham Market in Norfolk. In September 1943 Leader-Williams and his rear gunner and close friend, Sergeant John Harding, were killed when their plane was shot down during a mission over Germany, although the remaining five crew members bailed out safely. He is buried in the Durnbach War Cemetery, south of Munich.