LEGGE, Hon. Heneage (1788-1844), of Richmond, Surr.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

22 Nov. 1819 - Feb. 1826

Family and Education

b. 29 Feb. 1788, 2nd s. of George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth, by Lady Frances Finch, da. of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford; bro. of William Legge, Visct. Lewisham*. educ. Eton 1799; Christ Church, Oxf. 1805, fellow of All Souls 1812-18, BCL 1812, DCL 1818; L. Inn 1809, called 1815. m. 19 July 1821, Mary, da. of Maj. Johnstone, 1da.

Offices Held

Gent. usher to the King 1804, sen. gent. usher to Queen Victoria 1837-d.

Capt. R. Staffs. militia 1820.

Commr. of customs Feb. 1826-d.

Biography

Legge was described in 1812 as ‘a delightful little man, quiet, clever, singing beautifully and drawing excellent caricatures, and all within five feet four’.1 Lord Auckland’s son George Eden* informed his father apropos of the Oxford city election that year: ‘When Wright and Lockhart coalesced I in one of my speeches called them coupled dogs and Heneage Legge etched the caricature in which all the portraits are good likenesses’.2 Subsequently he became secretary and treasurer of Grillion’s Club and a barrister practising on the Oxford circuit. On 31 Oct. 1819, following the tragic death of Frederick Douglas, Henry Legge informed Lord Colchester, ‘My nephew Heneage will, I believe, be the new representative for Banbury’.3 This was on the interest of the 3rd Earl of Guilford, whose grandfather had married Legge’s great grandmother en secondes noces and thereby drawn the two families into close association. He neither spoke nor voted against ministers in his first session. He died 12 Dec. 1844.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. Letters of Countess Granville, i. 43.
  • 2. Add. 34458, f. 408.
  • 3. PRO 30/9/16.