LEIGH PEERAGE. CASE OF GEORGE LEIGH, Esq. IN continuance of the royal esteem which had been conferred on his ancestors, and as a reward for his own unshaken loyalty to his unhappy sovereign, His Majesty king Charles I. in the 19th year of his reign, was pleased to grant by letters patent, dated at Oxford, the 1st of July, 1643, unto sir THOMAS LEIGH, of Stoneley, in the county of Warwick, knight and baronet, the honor of baron Leigh* of Stoneley aforesaid, with entail of the same upon the heirs male of his body for ever. His lordship was great-grandson of sir Thomas Leigh, lord mayor of London when queen Elizabeth came to the throne; who, by his wife Alice Barker, niece of sir Rowland Hill, had issue four sons:—1. Rowland, largely provided for by his god-father sir Rowland Hill, at Longborough, in the county of Gloucester, from whom the Leighs of Addlestrop in that county are descended;— 2. Richard;-3. Thomas, as hereafter;-4. William, knighted by queen Elizabeth, was seated at Newnham Regis in the county of Warwick; whose son Francis, made knight of the bath at the coronation of James 1. married Mary, daughter of sir Thomas Egerton, the lord chancellor, by whom he had a son Francis, created a baronet 16th of the same reign, baron Dunsmore 4th of Charles I, and afterwards for his manifested loyalty, in the 20th of that reign, was advanced to the dignity of earl of Chichester. Thomas, the third son, was also knighted by queen Elizabeth, and raised to the dignity of a baronet by James I. at the first introduction of that order into England. He was also custos rotulorum of the county of Warwick. By his wife Catherine, fourth daughter of sir John Spencer, of Wormleighton, in the county of Warwick, he Owing to the unsettled state of public affairs at the time of the creation of this dignity, no enrollment of the patent is to be found in any of the public offices; but an entry in the docket book of the clerk of the crown, in chancery, certifies the creation in manner aforesaid; and it is shown that he had summons to parliament accordingly, in the 13th of Charles II., being the first parliament after the restoration: -the journals of the house of lords also further establish that his next heir, and successors of limitation took their place and seat in parliament among the peers of the realm, by virtue of the said letters patent. His lordship died in 1671-2, and was interred in the family vault he had recently erected, adjoining the chancel of the parish church of Stoneley, in the county of Warwick, on the 24th of February. By the lady Mary, his wife, (grand-daughter of sir Thomas Egerton, the lord chancellor, afterwards created baron Ellesmere) he had issue five sous, of whom, John the eldest died young; the other four, who lived to the age of maturity, were, viz:— 1st. Thomas; who was knighted at Stoneley, by king Charles I., the 22nd August 1642. He was seated at had a son John, on whom the honor of knighthood was conferred at Whitehall previous to the coronation of King James I.; he married Ursula, daughter of sir Christopher Hodesdon, lord of the manor of Leighton Buzzard, in the county of Bedford, and had an only son Thomas, thus elevated to the peerage; previous to when he had served as one of the members in parliament for the county of Warwick. (See collateral table of descent.) When king Charles I. found the gates of Coventry shut against him, he retired to Stoneley Abbey, the seat of sir THOMAS LEIGH, where his majesty was well received and hospitably entertained, and as a mark of his royal approbation, there conferred the honor of knighthood on the eldest son of sir Thomas, 22nd of August, 1642; after when it is supposed sir Thomas Leigh and his son marched with his majesty to Nottingham, and were with the king at Edge Hill. By the list of compounders, they both suffered severely for their loyalty during the civil war; the former being at one time amerced in the sum of £4,895: the latter in 1,376: but his lordship lived to see the restoration, and receive the reward of bis loyalty in having his summons to parliament as above stated. |