Family and Education

bap. 28 Mar. 1686, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of Thomas Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh, by his 2nd w. Eleanor, da. of Edward Watson, 2nd Baron Rockingham. educ. I. Temple 1701; Balliol, Oxf. 1702. m. Lady Barbara Lumley, da. of Richard, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, sis. of Hon. Charles, John and James Lumley and Sir Thomas Lumley Saunderson, 3rd Earl of Scarbrough, s.p. suc. to Leighton Buzzard estates of his gt.-uncle Hon. Charles Leigh 1704.

Offices Held

Biography

Charles Leigh, who had sat as a Tory under Queen Anne, was again returned on the Wentworth interest for Higham Ferrers in 1715. Described as a Tory who might often vote Whig, he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions of that Parliament. Transferring to Bedfordshire in 1722, he was one of five Tories who voted against the restoration of Bolingbroke’s estates in 1725.1 He did not stand in 1727, though he had been mentioned earlier as a ‘good Tory’, who might be put up by the young Duke of Bedford.2 Returned again at a by-election early in 1733, he voted against the Administration on the excise bill, 1733, and the repeal of the Septennial Act, 1734. Defeated at the general election of 1734, he did not stand again. He died 28 July 1749.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. Knatchbull Diary, 20 Apr. 1725.
• 2. E. F. D. Osborn, Pol. and Social Letters of a Lady of 18th Cent. 39.