Leigh family, Barons Leigh

The London merchant Sir Thomas Leigh (d. 1571) acquired estates in Bedfordshire (Cranfield), Gloucestershire (Adlestrop, Longborough), Warwickshire (King's Newnham, Fletchamstead and Stoneleigh) and elsewhere. The Gloucestershire property passed to his son Rowland Leigh, ancestor of the Leighs of Adlestrop. King's Newnham (Warwickshire) passed to another son, William Leigh, from whose descendant the Earl of Chichester (d. 1653) it passed to the fourth Earl of Southampton (see Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry).

Sir Thomas Leigh’s Stoneleigh estate was acquired by his second son Thomas (d. 1625), who bought Hamstall Ridware (Staffordshire) in 1601 and was made a baronet in 1611. His grandson and heir Thomas (d. 1671), created Baron Leigh in 1643, was succeeded as 2nd Baron by his grandson, who acquired property in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Kent through his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Brown of Shingleton (Kent). Fillongley and Maxstoke (Warwickshire) entered the family on the marriage of the 3rd Baron (d. 1738) to the daughter and heir of Thomas Holbeche. The 3rd, 4th and 5th Barons purchased property in Warwickshire (Watergall, Wibtoft), Leicestershire (Claybrooke) and Staffordshire (Yoxall). Estates at Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire) and Stewkley (Buckinghamshire), acquired on the marriage of the first baronet's son to the heiress of Sir Christopher Hoddesdon, were settled on Charles Leigh, second son of the 1st Baron, and subsequently on Charles Leigh (d. 1749), second son of the 2nd Baron, who bought Bradenham (Buckinghamshire) in 1734 and Little Leigh (Cheshire) c.1737. They were inherited by the 5th Baron and descended with his other estates after his death in 1786.

On the death of the 5th Baron the barony expired, and his estates passed successively to his sister the Hon Mary Leigh (d. 1806), the Rev. Thomas Leigh (d. 1813) and James Henry Leigh (1765-1823) of Adlestrop, whose son Chandos Leigh (d. 1850) was created Baron Leigh in 1839. The Leighs of Adlestrop had augmented their Gloucestershire estates in the 18th century through marriages with the Lord family, which brought property in Kent and Surrey, and the Brydges family, Dukes of Chandos, which brought Holborn (Middlesex) property. Sales took place in the earlier part of the 19th century (including Egham and Leighton Buzzard) and after the First World War (including Holborn and parts of the Warwickshire estate).

Estates in 1883: Warwicks 14,891 acres, Staffs 2,350 acres, Gloucs 2,232 acres, Cheshire 1,198 acres, Leics 294 acres, worth £32,013 a year.