Geographical
OriginBaron de SAINT LEGER - ANF- France, England, Ireland
Coat of arms : ''d'azur fretté d'argent au chef d'or'' (early 13 C)
Supports : deux griffons d'or les ailes élevées
Cimier : un griffon or passant surmontant la couronne de pair
Motto : ''Haut et Bon'' and ''Fidelis et Firma''
Geographical
Origin
The House of Saint Leger originates from France : from Saint Leger en Yvelines, Ile de France
(10-11C) and Saint Leger aux Bois, County of Eu in Normandy (11C to 15 C).
From
the Norman Conquest to the 18 C
Robert de Saint Leger, the''Golden Knight'' was an aide-de-camp of William the Conqueror during the Conquest.
He was richly rewarded with large estates in Kent, Essex and other counties.
Closed related to the counts of Eu, the Saint Leger's were then considered as ''Grand Barons'' in England as well as in France.
There were several branches :
In France
In England
However the line continued through a younger son, Willliam de Saint Leger, a knight who left England to conqueror Ireland in 1175 and founded the branch in Kilkenny ( see Ireland).
The branch of Ulcombe remained in their family seat until the middle of the 17 C.
It became famous in the 15 C thanks to Sir Thomas Saint Leger, Knight of the Order of the Bath and Ambassador to France.
Together with Louis IX, he signed the treaty of Pecquigny wich effectively ended the 100 years War. He married Anne Plantagenet, sister of King Edward IV and Richard III.
He was behaeded by the latter in 1483. His only daughter married into the family of the Duke of Rutland ( recumbent statue in the Queen's Private Chapel at Windsor).
Sir James Saint Leger of Eggesford married Ann Butler, heiress to the Earl of Ormond, one of the wealthiest men in the realm. However a century and a half later, there was nothing left of that fortune.
Sir Anthony de Saint Leger, Knight of the order of the Garter, thrice Vice Roy of Ireland forced Ireland into submission under the reigns of Henry VIII , Edward VI and Mary Tudor.
A plaque dedicaced to Sir Anthony Saint Leger can be found in Saint George Chapel at Windsor.
This particular branch of the family became Peers of Ireland in 1703 and took the title of Baron Kilmaden and Viscount Doneraile.
As the 4st Viscount died in 1769 with no male posterity, the peerage was transferred to his sister Elizabeth. She married Richard Aldworth, lord of Newmarket and their son subsequently took the name, surname and crest of Saint Leger .
Sir Anthony Saint Leger de Grangemellan, a horse racing enthusiast, founded the famous Saint Leger race in 1776 in the county of Doncaster.
Two of his sons acquired a dubious reputation for eccentricity at the Courts of France and England. One of them, nicknamed ''handsome Jack'', was a favorite of the Prince of Wales, later George VI.
He had his portrait made by Gainsborough ( Windsor Catsle) and Reynolds ( Rothschild collection).
The other, Antoine Maurice, was a charmer like
his brother.
He was introduced to the Court of Louis XIV as ''Marquis de Saint
Leger'', a courtesy title which was not continued.
Most of the English nranches are now extinguished in the male line, with the exception of a junior Ulcombe line still represented in England and South Africa.
A number of descendants still survive in the female line after a Royal Carter granted them permission to carry the Saint Leger name.
In
Ireland
Many members of the family took an active part in the conquest of Ireland ( end of 12 C, beginning of 13 C).
Thomas Fitz Anthony de Saint Leger received from John the Landless the county of York and the province of Desmond.
As he had no son, his fortune passed to his four daughters...
William de Saint Leger, a member of the Wertlinge branch also receveid much land from
King Henry II and John the Landless, particulary in the counties of Kilkenny, Queen and Westmeath, wich were still partially held by his descendants at the end of the 17 C.
Together with his son William, he richly endowed St Thomas Abbey in Dublin and the Abbey of Duike. They founded the Kilkenny branch and and became Lords of Thullaghanbroge and Shanboth, and barons of Rosconnel and Slewmargy etc...
The Kilkenny branch was made a peer of Ireland and baron of Obargy in the 14 C.
It included four bishops in the 13 C, members holding prominent administrative positions in the 14 C and 15 C, some Viscounts of the Kilkenny Cross and a member of the Kilkenny Confederation in 1642.
As a catholic family loyl to the Stuarts, this branch was stripped of all power and wealth by Cromwell around 1655 and William III of Orange after 1690.
In 1695, two children of this branch ( Antoine, 12 years of age and Mathieu, a fiew month old) took refuge in France where their Uncle Laurent de Saint Leger had become an Officier in the cavalry of James Stuart II based Saint Germain en Laye.
They were later to become Officiers of distinction in the Irish Brigades.
Mathieu, a captain in the Pretender's Cavalry was killed at the battle of Culloden in Scotland in 174 6. He left a son, Jean Bertin who later received the honour of an acknowledgement of ancient nobility by the King's Council of State (1783).
Each generation of sons until the Restauration were made Knights of Saint Louis.
The last one, Louis Justin, receveid in addition one of the first Croix de la Légion d'Honneur from the hands of Napoleonat the Invalides.
This medal was subsequently awarded to the following generations.
The Family since then having always pursued military careers, the Saint Leger's were then to embrace the sciences. They graduated from Polytechnique, the Ecole superieure des Mines, the Ecole Centrale etc...
Jean Maurice, a disciple of Monge and a researcher and inventor, purchased in 1818 the secret of fabrication of cement which he was authorized by George III to manufacture and commercialize in England.
More a scientist than a businessman, he was not to derive any profite from his endeavours.
Andre Maurice, his son, graduated from Polytechnique and from the Ecole Nationale des Mines with honors.
He joined the Corp Imperial des Mines as Ingenieur en Chef before becoming Directeur General des Machines a Vapeur for the region of Paris, and Councillor for the departement de Seine Inferieure.
He was an avid collector of rare minerals and he generously bequeathed his exceptionnal collection to the Ecole des Mines d'Ales.
His wife, Emilie Gonse had substantiel private mean. This enabled him to acquire a large estate on the Seine near Vernouillet.
His only son , Justin Maurice, also a graduate from Polytechnique, and the town's maire, had a large house built there.
It was the country home of the Saint Leger 's for almost a century.
He took great interest inthe local parish ( a plaque in the church is dedicaced to him as a token of gratitude for his restoration of the building).
Many members are buried there.
The only reprentative of the family living in France in 1830 left many descendants in the male line.
Today, the various members of other branches of the family are spread out in thworld :
In France, England, Ireland, the United States, New Zeland, Australia, South Africa, Argentina.
Together they will all find a unique oppotunity to meet in this new millenium.
Bibliography
''Les Saint Leger à travers l'histoire'' by Maurice et Bernard de Saint Leger
Volume 1 introduced by Baron Durye ( Honorary General Secretary of the Archives of France, and
Volume 2 introduced by Lord Dunboyne ( Vice Chairman of the Irish Genealogical Society).
''St Leger, the family and the race'' by Moya Frenz St Leger
These books contain many références to other books.
This site is dedicaced to Jean Maurice de Saint Leger ( died August 1944) who was the first to take an active interest in the family history and started serious researching.
And also to Maurice et Bernard de Saint Leger ( and close relatives) who dedicated their free time to investigate and write the above book.