Sir Thomas Leigh (c. 1504 – 15 or 17 November 1571[3][2]) was an English merchant and Lord Mayor of London in 1558–59. He served as a City Alderman from 1552 until 1571.[2]
Sir Thomas Leigh | |
|---|---|
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| Lord Mayor of London | |
| In office 1558–1559 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Thomas Curtis |
| Succeeded by | Sir William Hewett |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1504 Wellington, Shropshire, England |
| Died | 15 November 1571[1] Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England |
| Resting place | Mercers' Chapel, London |
| Spouse | Alice née Barker |
| Children | Richard Leigh Ralph Leigh Winifred Leigh Rowland Leigh of Adlestrop Alice Leigh Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh, 1st Baronet Robert Leigh Sir William Leigh Mary Leigh Isabella Leigh Katherine Leigh[2] |
| Occupation | Merchant |
Life
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Leigh was born about 1504 at Wellington, Shropshire, to Roger Leigh of Rushall (Willington, County Durham, 1483-1506) and Anne or Alice née Trafford (Leigh, Lancashire, 1487-1551).[2]
He was the great-great-grandson of Piers Leigh whose son Sir Piers Leigh, was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, whose family was a cadet branch of the ancient Leighs, of West Hall, High Legh, Cheshire.[citation needed]
Leigh was raised by Sir Rowland Hill, a City mercer and wool merchant, and later joined Sir Rowland's business, and before 1530, he married his maternal niece and heiress, Alice Barker, born in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, in 1509,[3] daughter of John Barker (Coleshurst, Market Drayton, Shropshire, ca. 1478-4 May 1572) and Elizabeth née Hill (Hodnet, Shropshire, 1479-1539).[2]
The following year of 1536 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Shropshire.[2]
Leigh, who was a merchant of the Staple (a restrictive trade group dealing in wool) and served three times as Master of the Mercers' Company, also served as Alderman of London (1552-53) and Sheriff of London (1555–56),[4][5][2] and in 1558 became Lord Mayor of London.[6][2]
He was also a merchant of the Staple and a member of the Merchant Adventurers' Company.[6][2]
In 1558, after the death of Mary I of England, Leigh led the coronation procession of Elizabeth I of England.[7]
Residence
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In 1561, Sir Rowland Hill purchased Stoneleigh Abbey, in Warwickshire, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries for his ward Sir Thomas Leigh, and a mansion was built on the site of the former monastic buildings. Leigh's family and descendants were seated on the estate from 1561 to 1993.[citation needed] He died there on 15 November 1571 and was buried at Mercers' Chapel, London, on 17. His wife also died there in 1603 and was buried at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, Middlesex.
Family
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Sir Thomas Leigh's descendants include Jane Austen through her mother Cassandra Leigh, the Leigh Baronets and the Barons Leigh of Stoneleigh, the Earls of Chichester and the Duchess of Dudley.
One of his daughters, Winifred Leigh, married a later Lord Mayor of London, George Bond.[9][2]
Another, Katherine Leigh, married Edward Baber MP, Serjeant-at-law and Recorder of Bath.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ Burke, John; Burke, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland. 1841, p. 307. London, Scott, Webster and Geary.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Vol. 2. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. 1877. p. 2293.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|autor=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - 1 2 Burke, Sir John Bernard; Burke, John (1844), A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland, J. R. Smith, p. 307
- ↑ Burke, John (1831), A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England, Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, p. 310
- ↑ Stow, John; Thomas, William John; Morley, Henry (1876), A survey of London written in the year 1598, Chatto & Windus, p. 195
- 1 2 Welch, Charles (1892). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ↑ Spencer, Richard Henry (1914), Thomas Family of Talbot County, Maryland, and Allied Families, Williams & Wilkins Co., p. 65
- ↑ Hutton, William Holden; New, Edmund Hort (1914), Highways and Byways in Shakespeare's Country, Macmillan, p. 387
- ↑ "Notes on the aldermen, 1502-1700 | British History Online".
