Egerton Leigh

Egerton Leigh, LLD, FSA (1702 - 5 February 1760) was a British landowner and an 18th-century Anglican priest.
Styled Dr Leigh, he was Archdeacon of Salop from 1741 until 1760. His family were landed gentry owning estates in Cheshire, and he was principally seated at West Hall, High Legh.

Background

A scion of the ancient Cheshire gentry family of Leigh, one junior branch of which were the Leighs of Stoneleigh, he was the eldest son of the Revd Peter Leigh by his wife Elizabeth, only daughter of the Hon. Thomas Egerton (son of John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater); thus he was a descendant of King Henry VII (as sometimes represented in the quarterings of some Leigh family members' coats of arms).

Leigh inherited his family's ancestral estate of West Hall and the lordship of the manor of High Legh as well as being patron of the 1st mediety of St Mary's Church, Lymm.

Life

Educated at St John’s College, Cambridge (LLB 1728, LLD 1743), Leigh served variously as Rector of Lymm; Rector of Myddle, Shropshire; Archdeacon of Salop; a Prebendary of Bullinghope alias Bullingham Magna, Herefordshire; a Canon of Hereford Cathedral; Master of St Katherine’s Hospital, Ledbury; and Vicar of Upton Bishop, Herefordshire.

A noted Cheshire antiquary, Leigh was a friend of the poet John Byrom. He married three times and died in 1760 having had nineteen children, including George Leigh (bookseller and partner of John Sotheby); Sir Egerton Leigh, 1st Bt (Attorney-General of South Carolina) was a nephew and the suffragette Lydia Becker was a great-great-great niece.

His numerous descendants include Sir Neville Leigh KCVO and his son Sir Edward Leigh MP, the Leycester-Roxby family, the Booths of Foxley, Lymm, the Earls of Bantry, the Cunliffe and Edwards baronets and the TV personality Al Murray. Lichfield Cathedral contains various memorial tablets to the Leighs of West Hall, High Legh.