Colonel Francis Dudley Leigh, 3rd Baron Leigh (30 July 1855 – 16 May 1938) was a British peer and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

landowner. He was Lord of the Manor of Hunningham. An officer in the

Warwickshire Yeomanry The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as cavalry and machine gunners in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalg ...

and honorary colonel of several volunteer and Territorial formations associated with the county, he served as an ambulance driver in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1921, he became

Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire. Since 1728, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire. Lord Lieutenants of Warwickshire *Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick 1569� ...

, and held the post until his death in 1938. He had no children by either of his two marriages, so his peerage passed to a nephew. He was the second son of William Henry Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh and his wife Caroline. He was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

and then at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, which awarded him a BA in 1879 and a MA in 1882. Francis became his father's

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

when his elder brother Gilbert died in a hunting accident in Montana in 1884. On 18 January 1885, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of

by his father, who was then

. His father also commissioned him as a lieutenant in the

on 7 November 1885. He was promoted to captain in the Yeomanry on 24 March 1888. On 16 January 1901, he was given the honorary rank of major in the Yeomanry. That rank was made substantive on 18 September. On 13 June 1903, he was appointed honorary colonel of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

, part of the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...

. In addition to his association with the Yeomanry and Volunteer Force in Warwickshire, from 1886 to 1891, Leigh was assistant secretary to the

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of ...

, Viscount Cross. He was elected to

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

in 1904 for St George's Hanover Square, which he represented until 1907. Leigh succeeded his father as

Baron Leigh Baron Leigh has been created twice as a hereditary title, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The writer Jane Austen is associated with this dynasty. The first creation came in the Peerage of England ...

at the latter's death in 1905, and inherited the family home of Stoneleigh Abbey. His association with the Warwickshire volunteer and militia units continued. He was appointed honorary lieutenant-colonel in the Warwickshire Yeomanry on 7 February 1906, and on 16 December 1907, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 5th (Militia) Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (becoming the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion in the

Special Reserve The Special Reserve was established on 1 April 1908 with the function of maintaining a reservoir of manpower for the British Army and training replacement drafts in times of war. Its formation was part of the military reforms implemented by Ri ...

after the

Haldane Reforms The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the " Childers Reforms" of the e ...

). He resigned his Yeomanry commission on 11 January 1908. On 1 April 1908, he became Honorary Colonel of the 7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

unit which replaced the 2nd Volunteer Battalion. Leigh continued to serve as honorary colonel of the two Royal Warwickshire battalions during the

, and was also honorary colonel and commandant of the Warwickshire Volunteer Regiment from 21 November 1917, up until 16 October 1919. While he supported the war effort as a Warwickshire country magnate (where he was appointed Vice Lieutenant on 3 September 1915,), he also bought and equipped a Ford

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

and drove it on the front lines. Following the death of the William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven, Leigh became Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire on 12 August 1921. His services were recognized by several appointments and decorations: he was made a Knight of Grace of the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

on 1 June 1922, was awarded the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer O ...

on 2 January 1923 for long service, and was made a president of the

League of Mercy The League of Mercy was a British foundation established in 1899 by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria. The goal of the organisation was to recruit a large number of volunteers to aid the sick and suffering at charity hospitals. It was disbanded ...

on 12 January 1923. He retired from the honorary colonelcy of 7th Battalion on 5 July 1933. Leigh married twice, both times to Americans. On 29 November 1890, he married Frances Helene Forbes Beckwith (d. 28 April 1909), the daughter of Nelson M. Beckwith, at St George's, Hanover Square. She died of pneumonia at Stoneleigh in 1909. He married Marie Campbell (d. 13 March 1949) on 2 October 1923. Leigh had no children by either marriage, so when he died on 16 May 1938, he was succeeded by his nephew, Rupert.

References

Book Source

External links

*
Portrait of the first Lady Leigh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Francis Dudley Leigh, 3rd Baron 1855 births 1938 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom British Militia officers Deputy lieutenants of Warwickshire Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Lord-lieutenants of Warwickshire Members of London County Council People educated at Harrow School Warwickshire Yeomanry officers