George Legge (abt. 1647 - 1691)

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 25 Oct 1691 at about age 44 in Tower of London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

George Legge is Notable.

"Admiral of the Fleet George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth PC (c. 1647 – 1691) was an English naval commander who gave distinguished service to both Charles II and James II.

George Legge was the eldest son of the royalist Colonel William Legge by Elizabeth Washington (c.1616–1688). His maternal grandfather, Sir William Washington (1590–1648), was the elder brother of Lawrence Washington, great-great grandfather of George Washington, while his maternal grandmother, Anne Villiers, was a half-sister of James I's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He was educated at Westminster School and King's College, Cambridge.

By 1683 Legge had risen to be Admiral and he was sent out to Tangier with Samuel Pepys to oversee the evacuation and destruction of the ill-fated English colony there. His last naval appointment was to the command of a fleet in the channel which unsuccessfully attempted to intercept the invasion force led by William III of Orange that landed in 1688 at the beginning of the Glorious Revolution. The same year he was appointed the first Admiral of the Fleet.

Following the abdication of James II, Dartmouth was dismissed by the triumphant William III, and imprisoned in the Tower of London in July 1691. He died in the Tower a few months later, on 25 October, without having been brought to trial, and was buried, as his father had been, in the church of the Holy Trinity, Minories, in London.[3] He was succeeded as Baron Dartmouth by his only son, William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth (1672–1750)" (wikipedia excerpt).

Sources

• Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Legge,_1st_Baron_Dartmouth