Henry Bilson Legge
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The Right Honourable Henry Bilson-Legge |
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| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
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In office 6 April 1754 – 25 November 1755 |
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| Monarch | George II |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Newcastle |
| Preceded by | Sir William Lee |
| Succeeded by | Sir George Lyttelton, Bt |
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In office 16 November 1756 – 13 April 1757 |
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| Monarch | George II |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Devonshire |
| Preceded by | Sir George Lyttelton, Bt |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Mansfield |
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In office 2 July 1757 – 19 March 1761 |
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| Monarch |
George II George III |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Newcastle |
| Preceded by | The Lord Mansfield |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Barrington |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 May 1708 |
| Died | 23 August 1764 (aged 56) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | Mary, Lady Stawell (later Countess of Hillsborough) |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Henry Bilson-Legge PC FRS (29 May 1708 – 23 August 1764) was an English statesman. He notably served three times as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1750s and 1760s.
Bilson-Legge was the fourth son of William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, by his wife Lady Anne, daughter of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.
He became private secretary to Sir Robert Walpole. In 1739 was appointed secretary of Ireland by the lord-lieutenant, William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire; being chosen Member of Parliament for the borough of East Looe in 1740, and for Orford, Suffolk, at the general election in the succeeding year.
Legge only shared temporarily in the downfall of Walpole, and became in quick succession Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, a Lord of the Admiralty, and a Lord of the Treasury. In 1748 he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Frederick the Great, and although his conduct in Berlin was sharply censured by George II, he became Treasurer of the Navy soon after his return to England. In April 1754 he joined the ministry of the duke of Newcastle as chancellor of the Exchequer, the king consenting to this appointment although refusing to hold any intercourse with the minister; but Legge shared the elder Pitt's dislike of the policy of paying subsidies to the landgrave of Hesse, and was dismissed from office in November 1755.
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