LEGH, Thomas Peter (?1754-97), of Golborne Park, Lancs. and Lyme Hall, Cheshire.

Legh continued to sit for Newton on the interest of his uncle, whom he succeeded as head of the family in 1792. He voted against government on Oczakov, 12 Apr. 1791, and was reckoned a supporter of repeal of the Test Act in Scotland later that month, but is not known to have been found in the minority thereafter. His inclusion in a list of Members ‘supposed attached’ to the Duke of Portland in December 1792 was queried and he was marked ‘pro’ in the ministerial election survey for 1796. He is not known to have spoken in the House, was excused from attending a call, 8 Mar. 1793, being ‘incapable of leaving his room’, and was a defaulter ordered to attend, 20 and 23 Jan. 1795.1CJ, xlviii. 365; l. 74, 92.

In 1794, Legh raised a regiment of cavalry, on which he spent over £20,000 of his own money. He was on duty with them in Edinburgh when he died suddenly, 7 Aug. 1797. His obituary recorded that he was ‘of a lively disposition, easy of access, and of a benevolent heart’, but that his ‘good qualities were shaded by frolics that degraded the gentleman’.2W. Beamont, House of Lyme, 193; Gent. Mag. (1797), ii. 716. He left seven illegitimate children and settled his Cheshire and Lancashire estates on the eldest son, Thomas Legh.