ST. LEGER, Anthony (1731-86), of Park Hill, nr. Bantry, Yorks.

A soldier and racing man, St. Leger was a friend of Lord Granby; and a brother-in-law of Ralph Burton, one of John Calcraft’s closest friends. In his election at Grimsby, which was uncontested, he had Granby’s support.St. Leger to Granby, 7 Nov. 1767, Rutland mss at Belvoir. After the election George Vernon wrote to Granby that St. Leger ‘though he has some of the family spirit, has not sufficient to form a parliamentary leader’. There is no record of his having spoken in the House. He voted consistently with the Opposition; only in the division list on the Middlesex election, 8 May 1769, which is however hardly reliable, is he marked as voting with the Government. ‘His chief claim to popular distinction is ... that he in 1776 suggested the establishment at Doncaster of the famous stakes’, known as the St. Leger Stakes.T. A. Walker, Adms. to Peterhouse, 299. At his death he left estates amounting to above £2,000 a year.Parlty. Portraits 1795, i. 166.

He died in April 1786.