Sir Arthur Leary Piggott (19 October 1749 – 6 September 1819) was an English lawyer and Whig MP. He was born in the parish of St Michael, Barbados, the son of John Piggott of Grenada, and trained for the law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, being called to the Bar in 1777. He then entered

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. He began his legal career in Grenada, where he was appointed

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, returning to England in 1783, where after building up a practice as a common lawyer, he moved to the court of Chancery. He was Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales from 1783 to 1792, when he was discharged because of his membership of the

Society of the Friends of the People The Society of the Friends of the People was an organisation in Great Britain that was focused on advocating for Parliamentary Reform. It was founded by the Whig Party in 1792. The Society in England was aristocratic and exclusive, in contrast ...

, a radical reform group. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

in 1787. Under the Whig administration of 1806, he was selected to be Attorney-General, was knighted by the king and given a safe parliamentary seat by the Duke of Norfolk at

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea. The smalle ...

. In the 1806 general election, the Duke found him a seat at

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much lar ...

, which he held until 1812. In 1812, he was returned for

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

, sitting until 1818. In that year, he was again provided with the Arundel seat but died the following year and was replaced by Robert Blake. Although he did not appear in court, he was involved in the 1812 trial of

William Booth William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first "General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out outl ...

for forgery, in his role as "constant Counsel for the Bank of England". Booth was sentenced to hang. Piggott died in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...

, Sussex on 9 September 1819. He had married Jane Dunnington of Manchester, Lancashire.

References

* 1749 births 1819 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Attorneys General for England and Wales Attorneys General of British Grenada Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 People from Saint Michael, Barbados {{England-UK-MP-stub