LEIGH, Augusta Mary (only dau. of Capt. John Byron d. Valencienne, France 2 Aug. 1791, by his wife the baroness Conyers). b. 26 Jany. 1783; half sister of George Gordon, lord Byron, the only relative for whom he retained any affection, to whom some of his poems are dedicated, and the last person to whom he wrote a letter. m. 17 Aug. 1807 her cousin George Leigh lieut.-col. of 10 light dragoons, he d. May 1850; accused by Harriet Beecher Stowe in an article in the Atlantic Monthly of Sep. 1869 of having committed incest with her brother in 1814, but no one believed the accusation; under Byron’s will of 29 July 1815 she inherited all her brother’s disposable property, Lady Byron being already well provided for. d. Marlborough court, St. James’ palace, London 12 Oct. 1851. H. B. Stowe’s Lady Byron vindicated (1870); C. Mackay’s Medora Leigh (1869); The true story of lord and lady Byron in answer to Mrs. Stowe (1869), portrait.
LEIGH, Egerton (only son of Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Leigh, Cheshire 1779–1865). b. Broadwell manor house, Gloucs. 17 March 1815; ed. at Eton; cornet 2 dragoon guards 12 April 1833, captain 18 Dec. 1840 to 31 March 1843; captain 4 dragoon guards 31 March 1843, sold out 14 July 1843; major 1 royal Cheshire militia 30 Aug. 1853 to 16 April 1873; sheriff of Cheshire 1872; M.P. for Mid-Cheshire division 7 March 1873 to death; edited Ballads and Legends of Cheshire 1867; author of Pets 1859; The guide to Eton. d. Cox’s hotel, 55 Jermyn st. London 1 July 1876. bur. churchyard of Rostherne, Cheshire. Egerton Leigh’s Glossary of words used in the dialect of Cheshire (1877), portrait; I.L.N. lxix 69 (1876), portrait.
LEIGH, Evan (son of Peter Leigh of Ashton-under-Lyne, cotton-spinner). b. Ashton 21 Dec. 1810; manager of his father’s business 1831–50, partner with his father; effected an improvement in the spinning mule, which reduced cost of spinning from 5d. to about 3d. per lb. 1831; a manufacturer of machinery at Miles Platting, Manchester 1850–69; a consulting engineer and exporter of machinery 1869, established businesses at Manchester, Liverpool and Boston, Massachusetts; patented the twin-screws for steamers 18 July 1849, since come into general use; invented the self-stripping carding engine, coupled mules with putting-up motion, and the loose-boss top roller; patented 19 inventions 1849–70; A.I.C.E. 1872; author of Plan for conveying railway trains across the straits of Dover 1870; The science of modern cotton-spinning 2 vols. 1871, 4 ed. 1877. d. Clarence house, Chorlton near Manchester 2 Feb. 1876, portrait in collection of portraits of inventors at South Kensington Museum. Min. of Proc. of I.C.E. xliv 229–31 (1876).
LEIGH, Gilbert Henry Chandos (eld. son of 2 baron Leigh b. 1824). b. 30 Portman sq. London 1 Sep. 1851; ed. Harrow and Magd. coll. Camb., B.A. 1874, M.A. 1878; capt. Warwickshire yeomanry cavalry 10 Nov. 1877 to death; M.P. South Warwickshire 7 April 1880 to death. d. by a fall from a precipice while shooting in the Big-Horn mountains, Wyoming 15 Sep. 1884. bur. Stoneleigh churchyard 22 Oct. I.L.N. lxxxv 373 (1884), portrait.
LEIGH, Henry Sambrooke (son of the succeeding). b. London 29 March 1837; edited The Arrow, 10 numbers 2 Aug. to 7 Dec. 1864; wrote Falsacappa, music by Offenbach, produced at Globe theatre 22 April 1871; Le Roi Carotte at the Alhambra 3 June 1872; Bridge of Sighs opera-bouffe at St. James’s 18 Nov. 1872; White Cat, a fairy spectacle at New Queen’s 2 Dec. 1875; Voyage dans la Lune, opera-bouffe Alhambra 15 April 1876; author of Carols of Cockayne 1869, 5 ed. 1888; Gillott and Goosequill 1871; A Town garland: a collection of lyrics 1878; Strains from the Strand: trifles in verse 1882. d. Lowther’s private hotel, 35 Strand, London 16 June 1883. I.L.N. 30 June 1883 p. 648, portrait.
LEIGH, James Mathews (son of Samuel Leigh of 145 Strand, London, bookseller). b. 1808; studied under Wm. Etty, R.A.; painter of sacred subjects and portraits; exhibited 25 pictures at R.A., 23 at B.I. and 29 at Suffolk st. 1825–49; kept the General practical school of art at 79 Newman st. Oxford st. London 1848 to death; author of Cromwell, an historical play in five acts 1838; The Rhenish Album 1836, anon. d. 79 Newman st. London 20 April 1860.
LEIGH, John (younger son of John Leigh of Consall, Staffs.). b. Consall 1809; barrister I.T. 8 May 1835; judge of court of appeal, Jamaica 1840–46; police magistrate at Wolverhampton 1846–60 and at Worship st. London 1860 to May 1864; bankrupt for £29,000, 23 March 1864; wrote Juvenile offenders and destitute pauper children, in Meliora, Second series by C. J. Talbot, viscount Ingestre 1853 pp. 81–89. d. Balham, Surrey, Nov. or Dec. 1880. bur. Tooting cemetery.
LEIGH, John. b. Foxdenton hall, Lancs. 8 June 1813; L.S.A. 1834, M.R.C.S. 1837; resident medical officer Manchester infirmary and lecturer there; medical officer of health, Manchester 4 March 1868; author of Sir Percy Legh and other ballads 1861; Coal smoke, report to the health and nuisance committee of corporation of Manchester 1883; and with Ner Gardiner, History of the cholera in Manchester 1850. d. 1887.
LEIGH, John Gerard (1 son of John Shaw Leigh 1791–1871). b. 1821; ed. Eton and Lincoln coll. Oxf. 1841; student of Lincoln’s inn 1843; inherited a large fortune; kept a large stud and extensive kennels at Luton Hoo park, Beds.; master of the Hertford hunt 1866; member of Four in hand club; ran steeple chases under name of Mr. Lynton, won the Liverpool with Half-Caste 1851; breeder of cattle, took prizes at Smithfield club shows. d. 138 Piccadilly, London 24 Feb. 1875. Bell’s Life in London 27 Feb. 1875 p. 6; Baily’s Mag. April 1872 pp. 311–12, portrait.
LEIGH, John Shaw (son of John Leigh d. 1823). b. 26 July 1791; ed. Rugby; solicitor at Liverpool 1823–48; mayor of Liverpool 1841, alderman 1844–48; sheriff of Beds. 1856; founded a scholarship at Liverpool collegiate institution. d. 138 Piccadilly, London 15 June 1871. bur. Walton on the hill near Liverpool 21 June.