A giant among men, Dr. Leslie Patrick left us at age 37 in the prime of his life, but what he left behind was a legacy of greatness. Born in 1907, Dr. Patrick won an exhibition from Moulton Hall Wesleyan School to Queen’s Royal College in 1917. At Q.R.C. he won the Dr. Cyril L. Laurent prize in 1919 for being the best student in English Grammar, Geography Latin, French and Algebra and later, the Senior Stollmeyer Medal and Prize, the Inniss Classics prize, the Jerningham Gold Medal, and the 1924 Island Scholarship. Despite his academic excellence he still left room for sport and enjoyed cricket and football.
He took this passion for sport with him when he entered the high profile St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London earning a place on both the cricket and football first eleven teams. His scholastic perseverance won him the £100 entrance scholarship to that institution and he graduated with both his Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine Degrees with distinction in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. He returned to Trinidad in 1931 and went into private practice where his skill as a physician won him the admiration of both his patients and his peers. In 1935, he took a part-time position with the government and in 1941 joined the Colonial Hospital staff.
Despite his devotion to his vocation, he managed to take an interest in public affairs and openly expressed his outrage and disappointment in the social injustices of the time. Dr. Patrick stood out among an elite few, including Hugh Wooding and Henry Pierre, (dubbed the Three Princes”) who felt that it was their social obligation to go into white society in order to try and break down the social colour bar. They felt that given their standing in society they were in a position to attend exclusive functions and in so doing bring about a positive change. They saw them- selves as pioneers who were making waves and ruffling the feathers of established colonial society.
Dr. F.L. L Patrick was one of the founding members of the Queen’s Royal College Old Boys’ Association. The “Q.R.C. 100 records that in 1934 Dr. F.L. Patrick was among a small group of Old Boys including Mr. G. C. Grant, Dr. E.H. Farrell, Mr. LC Hannays, Mr. H.Q.B. Wooding and Mr. Hamel Wells who did the preliminary work of forming the Association.
He was for several years Honorary Physician to the Tacarigua Orphan Home and served as Secretary to the Trinidad Branch of the St. John Ambulance Society. His keen interest in sports continued and he was President of the Maple Club and First Patron of the John Davis Physical Culture Club.
At the time of his death he was a full time Government Medical Officer serving at the Colonial Hospital and was called on to act as District Medical Officer.as well as Superintendent of the Leprosarium at Chacachacare. A Sunday Guardian article of 10 September 1944, headlined “Crowds Pay Moving Tribute To Late Dr. F. L. L. Patrick gave ample testimony to the esteem with which he was held by the country. It read “Crowds jammed city sidewalks throughout the two-mile route from the house of mourning at 2 Kavanagh Street to the Lapeyrouse Cemetery where the interment took place following an impressive funeral service at Trinity Cathedral, presided over by His Grace the Archbishop of the West Indies and conducted by the Very Rev. Dean E J. Holt. Led by mounted policemen, the cortege comprised of relatives and representatives of every walk of Trinidad life.” Although he died at such an early age, his memory lives on in his four children, Pamela, Angela, David and Alan produced from his marriage to Cynthia Scott.