Thomas Pemberton Leigh, 1st Baron Kingsdown
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The Right Honourable The Lord Kingsdown KC PC |
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Lord Kingsdown.
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 February 1793 London, England |
| Died |
7 October 1867 (aged 74) Torry Hill, near Sittingbourne, Kent |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Tory |
Thomas Pemberton Leigh, 1st Baron Kingsdown PC, KC (11 February 1793 – 7 October 1867), was a British barrister, judge and politician. Originally a successful equity lawyer, he then entered politics and sat as an MP from 1831 to 1832 and from 1835 to 1843. From 1841 to 1843 he was attorney-general for the Duchy of Cornwall. However, he is best remembered for his role on the judicial committee of the Privy Council, of which he was a member for nearly twenty years. Having refused the Lord Chancellorship in 1858, he was the same year elevated to the peerage as Baron Kingsdown. He died unmarried in October 1867, aged 74.
Born Thomas Pemberton, in London, Leigh was the eldest son of Thomas Pemberton, a chancery barrister, by Margaret Leigh, eldest daughter and co-heir of Edward Leigh, of Bispham Hall, Lancashire. He was the uncle of Sir Edward Leigh Pemberton.
Leigh was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1816, and at once acquired a lucrative equity practice. In 1829 he was made a King's Counsel. He sat in Parliament for Rye from 1831 to 1832 and for Ripon from 1835 to 1843. He seldom took part in parliamentary debates, although in 1838 in the case of he took a considerable part in upholding the privileges of parliament. In 1841, he accepted the post of attorney-general for the Duchy of Cornwall. In 1842 a relative on his mother's side, Sir Robert Leigh, 1st Baronet, left him a life interest in his Wigan estates, amounting to some £15,000 a year; he then assumed the additional surname of Leigh. Having accepted the chancellorship of the Duchy of Cornwall and a privy councillorship in 1843, he became a member of the judicial committee of the Privy Council, and for nearly twenty years devoted his energies and talents to the work of that body.
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