Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leigh, Egerton
LEIGH, EGERTON (1815–1876), writer on dialect, was born in 1815. He was a member of the ancient family of Leigh or Legh settled in various parts of Cheshire, his father being Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Leigh ; his mother was Wilhelmina Sarah, daughter of George Stratton of Tewpark, Oxford. Leigh was educated at Eton, and became a cornet in the 2nd dragoon guards (queen's bays), 12 April 1833. His subsequent steps were lieutenant 19 June 1835, and captain 18 Dec. 1840; in 1843 he retired from the regiment and entered the 1st Cheshire light infantry militia, which he quitted as lieutenant-colonel 18 Nov. 1870. In 1872 he was high sheriff for Cheshire. Leigh had long been an active conservative, and in 1873 was elected member of parliament for the Mid-Cheshire division; he was re-elected in 1874. He died at Cox's Hotel, Jermyn Street, London, on 1 July 187G, and was buried in the churchyard of Rostherne, Cheshire. He married, 20 Sept. 1842, Lydia Rachel, daughter of John Smith Wright of Bulcote Lodge, Nottinghamshire, and left five sons and a daughter. Leigh was much interested in local archaeology, and edited 'Ballads and Legends of Cheshire,' Lond. 1867, 4to. Posthumously was published his 'Glossary of Words used in the dialect of Cheshire,' London, 1877. This was largely founded on the collections of Roger Wilbraham, and has a portrait of Leigh as a frontispiece.
[Times, 3 July 1876; Hart's Army Lists; Cheshire Courant, 5 July 1876; Annual Register, 1876.]