LEIGH AND LEGH OF HIGH LEGH
1. EAST HALL AND ITS CHAPEL
Grid Ref: SJ 701 839
17 March 2010
 |
|
 |
| The Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dating from 1581 |
|
Millennium Stone in the Chapel Grounds |
 |
|
 |
| South side of the chapel |
|
Armorial bearings over the door |
Sir Peter Leicester in his Historical Antiquities
mentions the chapel at East Hall as being built by Thomas Legh of High Legh
in 1581. He described it as a chapel of ease in the township, within the parish
of Rostherne. Richards in his Old Cheshire Churches,
gives a full account of the chapel together with black and white photographs.
It is believed to be on the site of an earlier one belonging to East Hall. Richards
reviews the often contradictory claims of earlier historians as to the earlier
chapel or chapels on the site. It may be that the earlier chapel is one mentioned
in Domesday but there is then a 200 year gap before documentary evidence in
Legh papers for there being a chaplain in 1280. The is no documentary evidence
for a chapel on the site before 1408. The current chapel has a bell inscribed
"T. Legh of High Legh, Esquire, 1580, Recast 1878"
The Legh Family of East Hall
According to Magna Britannia (D. &
S. Lysons, 1810) the Leghs of East Hall had continued in uninterrupted male
descent from Edward de Lega to the current George John Legh
mentioned below. The male line of the elder branch failed about the time of
Edward IV (1461-1483). In the reign of Henry VIII, Thomas Legh of Northwood,
who was a descendant of a younger son of John Legh, and lived about the time
of Edward II (1307-1327), pursued his claim and after a long legal battle succeeded
to the East Hall estate. Either this Thomas or his son rebuilt the hall
in the reign of Elizabeth I.
The hall is mentioned in Cheshire Country
Houses, by Peter de Figueiredo and Julian Treuhertz, Phillimore, Chichester,
1988. The Leghs had an Elizabethan mansion of which only the chapel remains.
The house was replaced by one designed by John Hope and built between 1781 and
1784 for Henry Cornwall Legh. It was altered to the design of John Nash by G.
J. Legh in the period 1797 to 1818. The grounds were landscaped by Repton who
was able to move the Knutsford to Warrington road (now the A50) farther from
the house. An Italianate stone lodge from this house survives. The hall was demolished in 1963. The illustration below, received from Vincent Tickner, show the hall about 1960.
The Legh family have lived in the area since
the time of William II. The male line ended in the 20th century on the death
of Sydney Cornwall Legh. (Sources were Transactions of the Historical Society
of Lancs. and Cheshire, Vol. 101, 1949, page 108 and Legh of High Legh in
Landed Gentry 1965.)
The descent of the Legh family extant in the
17th, 18th and early 19th centuries is outlined briefly below, drawn from Burke's
Landed Gentry of 1906 and Ormerod's The History of the County Palatine
and City of Chester.
I am grateful to Vincent Tickner for extensive information on the Legh family from the 15th to the 20th century, some of which has been incorporated below and shown in italics. The main sources consulted for this were Burke's Landed Gentry 17th edition, 1952 and 18th edition, Vol. 1. 1969; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition, 1975; Debretts Peerage and Baronetage, 1995 and 2000
- 1. Richard Legh of East Hall,
baptised 4 Dec 1631, High Sheriff 1695, buried Rostherne, 29 December 1705.
+ Mary, daughter of Thomas Legh of Adlington and his wife Mary Bolles.
She was buried at Rostherne on 30 November 1702. They had five daughters and
one son, Henry.
- 2. Henry Legh
of East Hall, born 1679, baptised 6 Jan 1679/80, buried Rostherne, 29 November 1757. Married 17 October 1701
+ Letitia, daughter of Randle
Brooke of Norton Priory, Bart. in 1701. She was born c 1679 to 1682, buried at Rostherne on
3 February 1758. The couple had three sons and three daughters. The eldest
son, Richard, died in infancy, and the third son, Henry, died unmarried.
The second son, George, succeeded.
- 3. George Legh, born
10 July 1703, buried Rostherne, 31 January 1780. Marriage contract 26 March 1731, died 26 Jan 1780, JP.
+ Anna-Marie, daughter and
heiress of Francis Cornwall, 16th & last Baron of Burford in Shropshire, born
14 April 1711 and died 7 July buried at Rostherne, 10 July 1741. They had two
sons and two daughters.
- 4. Henry
Cornwall Legh of High Legh, born 24 Mary 1734, Sheriff 1786, died
15 March 1791.
+ Elizabeth,
daughter and co-heiress of Robert Hopkinson of Heath, Yorks. She was baptised 24 June 1738 at Wakefeild, All Saints, married
in 1761. She died April 1808 aged 70 and was buried on 21 April at Rostherne.
This couple had three sons and two daughters.
- 5. George
J. Legh of High Legh, born 26 May 1768, High Sheriff of Cheshire,
1805 and died 17 March 1832. Doctor of Law
+ Mary the daughter of John
Blackburne Esq. of Hale, MP on 14 July 1803. She was born
on 11 March 1785 and died 10 June 1856. They had six sons
and eight daughters.
- 6. George
Cornwall Legh of High Legh, MP, born High Legh, 30 August
1804. There is a portrait of George Cornwall Legh at Wythenshawe
Hall, noting that he was MP for Cheshire from 1841 to
1873. He was a Whig and was first returned for N. Cheshire
in 1841 when in conjunction with Mr. W. Tatton Egerton
he defeated Mr. E. J. Stanley.
+ Louisa Charlotte,
daughter of Edward Taylor of Kent on 5 July 1828. She
was born 22 March 1806 and died 3 October 1873.
- 7.
George Cornwall Legh, born December 1847 and died
1848.
- 6. Henry
Cornwall Legh, MA, 2nd son, of Welshampton, Shropshire,
clerk in Holy Orders, born 4 August 1811, died 24 November
1847.
+ Mary daughter of Martin
Williams, Esq. on 7 March 1838. She was born 2 September
1813. They had one son and four daughters.
- 7.
Henry Martin Cornwall Legh, Esq. heir presumptive
to his uncle, George Cornwall Legh, at the time of
Ormerod's History of Cheshire. Henry was Lieu. Col.
Grenadier Guards, born Hale Hall, Lancashire, 14 November
1839.
- 6. John
Cornwall Legh, born 8 June 1814 and died 1815.
- 6. John
Cornwall Legh, born July 1815 and died 1823.
- 6. Richard
Cornwall Legh, born 10 June 1818 and died in Malta in
1876
- + Tommasina
Antonia, daughter of Frederick Sedley, Esq., on 28 June
1852. She was born 26 April 1836. They had three sons
and one daughter.
- 6. Edmund
Cornwall Legh, CB, born 14 October 1821, Lieu. Col. commanding
97th Regiment of Foot, served in the Crimean War and the
Indian Mutiny, died in India on 3 June 1859.
- + Julia,
daughter of Neville Parker, Esq. of Fredricton, New Brunswick,
Master of the Rolls of New Brunswick, married 20 July
1852.
- 7.
Neville Edmund Cornwall Legh, Lieu. RN, b 16 Jan 1854,
died 21 June 1902, unmarried.
- 7.
Maria Helena Cornwall Legh, born 20 May 1857, founded
Misson of St. Barnabas, Kusatsu, Japan, where she
died unaware of the war 18 Dec 1941, unmarried. Had
the very distinguished Japanese 6th Order of the Sacred
Treasure.
- 5. Cornwall
Legh, died in infancy.
- 5. Henry Cornwall
Legh, died unmarried aged 22 in 1795.
- 5. Elizabeth
Dorothea, died unmarried in 1777.
- 5. Anna Maria
married Thomas Pitt of St. James Westminster and had two sons,
George John who took the name Legh and Henry Cornwall Pitt,
who died unmarried in 1793.
- 4. Henry Langton
Legh.
- 4. Letitia Legh
- 4. Anna Legh.
* Mary Cornwall Legh. I have been contacted by Shigeru and
Michiko Nakamura in Japan, who are interested in Mary's life. Mary was born
in Canterbury in 1857 and went to Japan about 1907 as a self-paid SPG missionary.
Having obtained a piece of land in Kusatsu in 1915 she provided medical and
spiritual help to lepers until 1936, when her health was failing. She died in
Japan in 1941. Mary wrote over a dozen books for children. Any further information
from readers would be gratefully received. The information in the tree above
on Mary is from Raymond Richard's artice in THSL&C mentioned below.
Vincent Tickner traces the male line back 19 generations from Richard Legh in generation 1 above as follows where I show only the main line of descent
- 1. Edward de Lega, assumed this name from the village of Lega in the Parish of Rostherne and afterwards known as Legh then High Legh, in the reign of William II. He obtained his moiety of Lega from the Baronial House of Kinderton, descendants of Gilbert de Venables one of the original barons in Cheshire under Ranulph Earl of Chester.
- 2. Hugh de Lega
- 3. Thomas de Lega
- 4. Thomas de Lega in the time of Henry III (1216 to 1272)
- 5. Adam de Legh or Lega, Lord of Legh 1228 to 1237. Died about 1250
- + Margery daughter of Henry de Hulgreave, married about 1245.
- 6. Hugh de Legh, eldest son (d. 1295) Lord of the mediety of Legh
- + Alice de Stanwyg
- 7. John de Legh, eldest son, Lord of the Mediety of Legh, married before 1312,
- + Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Matthew Somerville, Lord of Alpraham. Their eldest son William, who died about 1349, inherited the estates of Legh until the last male died around 1507 and the properties passed to the descendants of his younger brother in 1510
- 8. John de Legh of Northwood Hall, Cheshire, and Lord of Alpraham in 1389, second son
- +Isabel
- 9. Thomas de Legh, eldest son, of Northwood Hall, living 1363 but died before 1402
- +Joan
- 10. Thomas de Legh of Northwood Hall
+ Isabel
- 11. Thomas de Legh of Northwood died before 1458
- + Joan
- 12. Thomas de Legh, only son, of Northwood Hall, Cheshire, died c. 1502
- + Elizabeth, daughter of Geoffrey Millington of Appleton, Cheshire
- 13. Thomas Legh, eldest son, marriage settlement 2 Jan 1464, succeeded to the manor of High Legh, died after 1510
- + Margaret daughter of Richard Chollerton
- 14. Robert Legh of High Legh
marriage settlement 2 June 1502, died before 1559
+ Alice Starkey, parents unknown
- 15. Thomas Legh of High Legh, born after 1502, died 16 December 1589
+
Isabel Trafford the daughter of George Trafford
- 16. Robert Legh of High Legh, whose marriage settlement was dated 14 October 1540
+
Eleanor Spurstow the daughter of Randle Spurstow of Spurstow in Cheshire
- 17. George Legh who died in 1617. George had two further marriages to Anne Booth around 1587 and to Elizabeth daughter of Baron Audley.
- + Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter Leycester of Tabley and his wife Elizabeth Colwich of Colwich in Staffordshire.
- 18. Thomas Legh of High Legh, who was born about 1581 and married 6 December 1596. Thomas Legh was drowned by accident in a moat and buried 4 February 1628.
- + Townsend Brooke.
- 19. Henry Legh, baptised 1611, married 30 January 1631 and died February 1665. Henry Legh was Colonel of the Horse on the Royalist side in the Civil War and was present at the seiges of Chester and Worcester.
- + Dorothy Turner, daughter of Gregory Turner MA DD, rector of Sefton from 1602 to 1633.
- 20. Richard Legh, baptised 4 Dec 1631
Additional Sources.
Stuart Raymond in Cheshire a Genealogical Bibliography, Vol 2. quotes the following
sources on the Cornwall Legh family, neither of which I have consulted.
The Cornwall Leghs of High Legh: approaches to the inheritance patterns
of North-West England, by Evelyn Lord, in the Bulletin of the John Rylands
University Library of Manchester, 73 (2), 1991, pp. 21-36, includes
pedigree from 13th to 20th centuries.
The Chapels of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John at High Legh, Cheshire
with an account of the Cornwall-Legh and Egerton-Legh families, by Raymond
Richards, in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and
Cheshire, 101, 1949, 97-136, includes a folded pedigree from the medieval
period to 19th century. There are more details in this pedigree on Mary Cornwall
Legh than in the article in Ormerod's History of Cheshire.
2. WEST HALL AND ITS CHAPEL
Grid Ref: SJ 700 841
17 March 2010
 |
 |
 |
| St. John's from the West |
|
St. John's from the South |
 |
|
 |
| Fishers of Men, South Window |
|
North Window |
Peter de Figueiredo and Julian Treuhertz give a brief
mention of West Hall at High Legh in their book. It was a half-timbered building and is shown
as it was in 1814, in Ormerod's History of Cheshire. Shortly after this
period it was either enlarged or completely rebuilt in red brick. West Hall
was demolished in 1935.
There had been a chapel near the hall since
1408 but this fell into disrepair. A new chapel was built on the site in 1816
to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. It was designed by Thomas Harrison of
Chester. This building had a classical appearance with four columns at the front.
While being restored in 1891 the chapel was destroyed by fire and replaced by
St. John's as shown in the photograph above. (Sir Peter Leicester notes that
there was formerly an ancient chapel of ease belonging to the family of Leigh
of West Hall in High Legh built about the time of Henry IV (1399-1413).
However, by the 1670s, he claimed that it had been converted to others uses.)
The chapel is open to view on Wednesday mornings from 10 am until noon and I am grateful to the church warden for permission to take pictures of the interior, two of which are shown above. The church has had a small extension to make it more convenient for holding meetings with catering and toilet facilities and is planning further work.
The Leigh Family of West Hall
D. & S. Lysons in Magna Britannia,
give details of the relationship of several branches of the Legh and Leigh families
and the notes below shown are simplified from this source. The Leighs
of West Hall arrived in High Legh about 70 years after the Leghs of East Hall.
"Egerton
Leigh of West Hall in High Legh and Twemlow, Esq. is descended from Richard
Lymme who in the late 13th century married Agnes the daughter and sole heiress
of Richard de Legh. Agnes had a second husband, William Venables, and they had
a son, John, who (also) took the name of Legh and settled at Booths.
William Venables was descended from Gilbert Venables the first baron of Kinderton
who held land in Cheshire under Hugh Lupus after the Norman Conquest."
John Legh was the common ancestor of the following branches of the Legh family
of which the first seven were in Cheshire.
1.
Legh of Sandbach, who became extinct after two generations.
2. Legh of Booths, of whom Willoughby Legh was the representative in 1810 with
the Leighs of West Hall also as descendants of this branch.
3. Leigh of Oughtrington, who are descended from John, a younger son of Richard
Leigh of West Hall as a result of his marriage to an heiress in the reign of
Edward IV. Trafford Trafford, Esq. of Oughtrington
was the lineal descendant of this branch but assumed the name Trafford in compliance
with the will of a maternal uncle.
4. Legh of Adlington, who became extinct by the
death of Charles Legh in 1781 were descended from Robert, a younger son of the
first John Legh of Booths.
5. Legh of Baguely were descended from Sir William Legh, a younger son of the
second Sir John Legh of Booths but became extinct in 1688.
6. Legh of Lyme were descended from Piers, a younger son of Robert Legh of Adlington
mentioned above, and became extinct by the death of Thomas Peter Legh of Lyme
in 1797. (He was succeeded at Lyme by his eldest illegitimate son, Thomas (1792-1857) who had no male heirs. In 1857, the estate went to Thomas Legh's nephew, William John, the son of Thomas Peter Legh's second illegitimate son, William. William John Legh became the 1st Lord Newton.)
7. Legh of Ridge arise from John a younger son of Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, who
married the heiress of Alcock of Ridge.
8. Leigh of Ifell in Cumberland, extinct from about 1600
9. Leigh of Middleton in Yorkshire.
10. Leigh of Egginton in Derbyshire, Rinshall in Staffordshire, Stoneley in
Warwickshire and Addlestrop in Gloucestershire all derive their descent from
a younger son of the first Legh of Ridge.
Ormerod shows the Leigh family of West Hall
descending from Thomas de Legh, who died in 10 Edw. II (1317). The male
heirs married into the Massy family of Winsham, the Leicesters of Nether Tabley,
the Booths of Dunham Massy and the Davenports of Davenport. Below I trace
the family from the late 17th century by which time the family name was written
as Leigh. Several members of the family were clergy with connections to Lymm
in Cheshire. Some had multiple livings which they had to handle by employing curates. The first Egerton Leigh married three times and had a total of
11 sons and 7 daughters. The following tree is simplified from the pedigrees shown
in the histories of Ormerod and the Lysons. I am grateful to Richard Adamson for sending me details from Burke's Peerage which adds a lot of data not contained in Ormerod and Lysons. It covers mainly the 18th century.
- 1. Thomas Leigh, of West Hall, lord of the Manor of High Legh and patron of the 1st mediety of Lymm. He was buried at Rostherne,
22 June 1676.
+ Mary, daughter of William Austin of the City
of Westminster. Married 1660. She was buried at Rostherne on 15 June 1714.
- 2. Austin Leigh,
died unmarried, buried Rostherne 30 July 1724.
- 2. Rev. Peter Leigh,
lord of the Manor of High Legh and patron of the 1st mediety of Lymm. Rector of Whitchurch and of Myddle in Shropshire, vicar of Great Budworth, Cheshire,
buried Rostherne, 18 March 1719. He was born about 1663, educated at Wadham College Oxford (MA 1687). Married 15 September 1698 to
- + Elizabeth, daughter
of Thomas Egerton of Tatton, born 15 January 1678, died 30 June 1720,
buried Rostherne. She was the only daughter of the Hon. Thomas Egerton of Tatton Park, Cheshire, the third son of the 2nd Earl of Bridgewater. This couple had four sons and five daughters. This tree
follows mainly the line of the eldest son, Egerton Leigh.
- 3. The Venerable Egerton Leigh,
LL.D. of West Hall, lord of the Manor of High Legh and patron of the 1st mediety of Lymm. Rector of Lymme in Cheshire and Myddle in Shropshire, Archdeacon of Shropshire, Prebendary of Bullinghope in Herefordshire, canon
of Hereford, Master of St. Katherine's Hospital, Ledbury, Vicar of Upton Bishop in Herefordshire. He was baptised Rostherne, 30 March 1702, educated at St. John's College Cambridge. Died at Bath. He married
three times.
- + Ann, (first wife),
daughter and co-heiress of Hamlet Yates of Aston Park, Aston by Budworth, Cheshire. She was buried
at Rostherne on 26 April 1734. The couple had four sons, Peter, Thomas, Hamlet and Egerton shown below and three
daughters, Anne, Elizabeth and Mary.
- 4. Peter
Leigh, LL.B, Rector of Lymme, and of Myddle in Shropshire and Prebendary of Little Pyon, Herefordshire. He was born 1725, educated at Corpus Christi College Oxford. died
1758 and buried at Ledbury in Shropshire.
+ Mary, daughter and heiress
of Henry Doughty, Esq. of Broadwell Manor, Gloucestershire. They had
5 sons and three daughters.
- 5. Peter Leigh,
eldest son, died young, buried Rostherne 6 December 1750.
- 5. Egerton
Leigh of West Hall in High Legh, Jodrell Hall and of Twemlow Manor, Cheshire and of Broadwell Manor, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucester, Lord of the Manor of High Legh, patron of the benefice of High Legh and of the 1st mediety of Lymm Cheshire, was born 25 October 1752, educated at Westminster and Sidney Sussex College Cambridge. He died 23 June 1833.
- + Elizabeth,
daughter and co-heiress of Francis Jodrell of Jodrell, Yeardsley and
Twemlow, married at Rostherne on 21 September 1778. She died
12 March 1807. They had three sons, Egerton, Peter and Jodrell,
and six daughters, Mary-Ann, Charlotte, Emma, Augusta, Caroline and Harriet.
- 6. Egerton
Leigh of West Hall, High Legh, and Broadwell, Gloucestershire,
eldest son and heir, was born 23 August 1779 and baptised
at Davenport in Cheshire. He was High Sheriff in 1836
and died 6 October 1865.
- + Wilhelmina,
daughter of Geo. Stratton, Esq. of Tew Park, Oxfordshire.
They married at Charlbury in Oxfordshire on 20 November
1809. She died 24 November 1849. The couple had 1 son,
Egerton, and six daughters, viz. Eleanor, born 1811; Anna
Elizabeth, born 1812; Beatrice Julia; Caroline; Emma,
who died in infancy; and Augusta.
- 7.
Egerton Leigh of West Hall in High Legh and Jodrell
Hall, born 7 March 1815. MP, Captain of the Queen's
Bays and Lieu. Col. 1st Cheshire Militia, High Sheriff
1872.
- +
Lydia Rachel, daughter and co-heiress of John Smith
Wright, Esq. of Balcote Lodge, Notts., married at
St. George's Hanover Square, 20 Sept. 1842. They had
five sons, the eldest being Egerton born 13 July 1843,
and a daughter.
- 6.
Peter Leigh, clerk, Rector of Lymme, born 19 August 1782,
baptised at Goostrey on 25 October 1782, married at Daresbury
10 November 1812 to Mary, dau. of Thomas Blackburn LL.D,
clerk, warden of Manchester College, living without issue
in 1816. He married secondly Miss Stuart and died without
issue at Torquay on 10 March 1841.
- 6.
Jodrell Leigh, became an admiral RN, born 15 January
1790, baptised Goostrey, 27 February 1790. He inherited
Broadwell Manor House and died without issue at the West
Hall 27 October 1863.
- 6.
Mary-Anne Leigh, born 28 July 1780, wife of Hon. James
Abercrombie, MP, speaker of the House of Commons and later
Lord Dunfermaline. They had only one child, a son, who
died without issue. Mary-Anne died in 1873.
- 6.
Charlotte Leigh, wife of Joseph Jellicoe of London and
Finchley. She died in 1823.
- 6.
Emma Leigh, wife of John Smith, Esq., MP of Blinden Hall
in Kent.
- 6.
Augusta Leigh, wife of J. Dumbleton, Esq., of Hall Grove,
died without issue in 1851.
- 6.
Caroline Leigh, died unmarried.
- 6.
Harriet Leigh, died unmarried and buried Rostherne, 31
August 1809.
- 5. Thomas
Hodges Leigh, died young buried at Rostherne on 16 September
1757.
- 5.
Peter Neve Leigh, died young and buried at Broadwell in Gloucestershire.
- 5.
Timothy Leigh, died unmarried in the East Indies in 1814 having had issue Samuel Jervis Leigh, living in 1817.
- 5. Mary Leigh, married Rev. Richard
Lancaster, perpetual curate of Arlesey in Bedfordshire.
- 5. Anne Leigh, born about 1755, married John
Frodsham, captain RN and had issue.
- 5. Elizabeth, living but unmarried
in 1816.
- 4. The Venerable Egerton Leigh, MA, rector of
Lymme, Prebendary of Penymynydd, Flintshire, Prebendary of Dassett Parva, Warwickshire, Archdeacon of Shropshire, Canon and Chancellor of Lichfield. He was baptised on 23 march 1733, educated at Westminster and St. John's Cambridge (BA 1756) and Brasenose Oxford (MA 1758). He died 17 September 1798.
- + 1st Letitia, daughter of George Legh J.P. of East Hall, who died without
surviving issue.
- + 2nd Theodosia, daughter of Ralph Leycester of Toft, by whom he
had issue, Susanna, who married another Ralph Leycester of Toft and
Theodosia, living unmarried in 1816. I am grateful to Jeremy Marshall who has seen Theodosia Leigh's bible which records her children on the flyleaf as John (died in infancy 16 Sept. 1776), Susanna, Theodosia, Henrietta (died in infancy), George (died two weeks after birth), and "a girl still born".
- 4. Thomas Leigh of Over Tabley, Cheshire, born 1732, married in July 1754 to Susanna Jackson (died 1809) and died 15 January 1808, having had issue a son Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary (died in infancy), Mary and John.
- 4. Of the remaining children of
Egerton Leigh and Ann Yates, Hamlet died without issue,
Ann married twice and Mary and Elizabeth died unmarried.
- + 2nd wife of Egerton
Leigh, LL.D was Elizabeth Drinkwater. She had six sons John, William,
Austin, Samuel, George, and William and two daughters, Hester and
Jane. All of whom died without legitimate issue.
- + 3rd wife of Egerton
Leigh, LL.D was Casandra Phelps, married 30 October 1746. She had one son, Henry, buried 6 February 1751, and three daughters, Cassandra, Catherine
and Ariana all of whom died without issue.
- 3. Thomas Leigh, clerk
MA, Rector of Murston in Kent and of St. Mary's in Canterbury, bapt.
Rostherne 9 March 1706 and married Jane, dau. of Wm. Barnes of Oxford
and widow of Tho. Allett, Esq.
- 3. Peter Leigh, baptised
Whitchurch, 18 January 1711, High Bailiff of Westminster and later Chief Justice of South Carolina. Educated at Westminster. He died in South Carolina on 22 August 1759 and was buried at St. Philip's Charleston.
- +Elizabeth, dau. of Willium Latus of Manchester at Warburton Chapel, Cheshire on 9 October 1731. She was born abut 1712 and living in London in 1771. This couple had among other
issue, Egerton Leigh, who was created a baronet in 1773.
- 4. Sir Egerton Leigh, born 11 October 1733, created 1st Baronet of Great Britain on 15 May 1773 and styled as "of South Carolina, America". He was Attorney-General, Surveyor-General, Judge of he Vice-Admiralty Court and a member of the Council of South Carolina. Educated at Westminster. He died in England 15 September 1781.
- + Martha Bremar, born 13 March 1738 died 10 January 1801, daughter of Francis Bremar of South Carolina, British North America by his wife Martha dau of John Laurens of South Carolina, British North America.
- 5. Egerton Leigh, born 18 Dec 1759 and died during father's lifetime.
- 5. Rev. Sir Egerton Leigh, 2nd Baronet
- 5. Sir Samuel Egerton Leigh, born 1 March 1770 and died 11 December 1796) of 42 Bedford Row, Westminster and of Edinbugh, knighted 1793. He married Catherine Greig daughter of Alexander Greig and she died after 1806.
- 6. Sir Samuel Egerton Leigh 3rd Baronet. On the death of the 3rd Baronet the Baronetcy of Leigh of South Carolina may well have become extinct. However, it is not known whether Thomas Egerton Leigh, the 4th but 3rd survivng son of the 1st Baronet, left any male descendants in Georgetown County, South Carolina. For this reason this baronetcy is usually listed as being dormant rather than extinct.
- 5. Thomas Egerton Leigh, a plantation owner in Georgetown County, South Carolina, born 1775, unknown date of death.
- 5. Martha Leigh born 5 December 1762, married first Nathan Garrick the nephew of he actor David Garrick and secondly George Grazebrook.
- 5. Elizabeth Harriet Leigh, born 29 July 1764, married in 1780 Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von der Malsburg of Schloss Escheberg, Hesse-Cassel and had issue.
- 5. Mary Leigh, born 1 February 1776 married John Smith of Madeira
- 5. Harriet Anne Leigh, born 30 September 1767. In 1797 she became the second wife of Captain James Burnett. Had no issue.
- 5. Charlotte Lucy Leigh, born 8 December 1768 and died 1801
- 3. John Leigh of Manchester,
Middle Hutton, Bolton, and Hurst near Ashton-under-Lyne, baptised Rostherne,
12 September 1703. Married Silence Wagstaffe at Stretford 31 December 1730 and died
Hurst, 19 December 1738, buried in Collegiate Church at Manchester.
- + Silence,
dau. of John Wagstaffe of Glossop in Derbyshire and Manchester and
Stretford in Lancashire. She was baptised at the Collegiate Church
in Manchester on 26 December 1714. This couple had three sons, John,
Peter and Egerton, shown below and three daughters, Bertha, Mary and
Elizabeth. Silence married second to Robert Thyer, librarian to Chetham's
Library, on 9 December 1741 and died in 1750.
- 4. John
Leigh of Manchester, manufacturing chemist, born 31 March 1734,
married at the Collegiate Church 17 May 1772 and buried there
on 23 July 1797 aged 63.
- + Lydia
Kaye of Salford, buried at Collegiate Church in Manchester on 15
May 1806 aged 72. This couple had four sons, Thomas and James
died in childhood, John who lived to be 24 and Thomas who left
issue. There was also a daughter Lydia who married and left issue.
- 5. Thomas Leigh (1778-1847) (See Footnote 1 below.)
- + Hannah Shaw?
1809.
- 6. Dr. John Leigh, 1813-1888. Chief Medical Officer for Manchester
- + Marianne Goodwin, married 1840. She died in 1847
- 7. Marianne, 1843
- 7. Francis, 1846
- + Elizabeth Collier, married 1848
- 7. Gertrude Elizabeth, 1849
- 7. Arthur, 1851
- 7. Egerton Thomas, 1852
- 7. Piers Harry, 1855
- 7. Beatrice Maud, 1859.
- 4. Peter Leigh, born 12 February
1733, died aged 20 and buried at the Collegiate Church in Manchester.
- 4. Egerton Leigh, born 1 August
1738, buried aged 2 at the Collegiate Church Manchester on 22
August 1740.
- 3. Hester Leigh,
baptised Rostherne, 16 July 1699, buried there on 30 April 1700.
- 3. Elizabeth
Leigh, baptised Rostherne, 6 February 1704, buried there on 10 February
1704.
- 3. Rev. Thomas Leigh, Rector and patron of Murston, Kent, Rector of St. Margaret's Canterbury, born, 1708, educated at University College Oxford (MA 1731) married 1 May 1731 to Jane daughter of William Barnes of Culham, Oxfordshire and had issue.
- 3. Jane Leigh,
baptised Rostherne 20 July 1708, married about 1730 to Venerable Sir John Head, 5th Baronet, DD, Archdeacon and Prebendary of Canterbury and died without surviving issue.
- 3. Hester Leigh,
baptised Whitchurch, 3 August 1710, buried Whitchurch 1 January 1711.
- 3. Mary Leigh,
baptised at Whitchurch, 25 September 1713, living iin 1724
- 2. William Leigh, died
1741, married first Mary Whalley, died without issue, then Sarah the daughter
of Roger Hanmer of Bettisfield, Flintshire.
Footnote 1.
I am grateful to Lindsey Henderson for the following additional information on Dr. John Leigh, Chief Medical Officer for Manchester, born at Foxdenton Hall in 1813 and died at Hale Barns Manor House in 1888. He was the grandson of John Leigh and Lydia Kaye. Dr. John Leigh was the son of Thomas Leigh (1778-1847) whose wife may have been Hannah Shaw, married 1809. Thomas Leigh was in 1801 bankrupt ( London Gazette). 1806 left £200 in his mothers will ( From a Nat. Arch. copy ). 1808 had a partnership dissolved in the Vitriol Works in Oldham ( London Gazette ) with Richard Barlow and Hannibal Becker (husband of his sister Lydia Kaye Leigh - Ernst Hannibal Becker ). Dr. Leigh married twice, first to Marianne Goodwin in 1840, and she died in 1847. His second wife was Elizabeth Collier, married in 1848. His children from the two marriages were Marianne 1843, Francis 1846, Gertrude Elizabeth 1849, Arthur 1851, Egerton Thomas 1852, Piers Harry 1855 & Beatrice Maud 1859.
War Memorial by St. John's, erected in 1994
Back to list of families
Introduction to Cheshire Gentry
Strict 