LEGARD, John (c.1631-78), of Ganton, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

4 Apr. - 21 June 1660
25 July 1660

Family and Education

b. c.1631, 1st s. of John Legard (d.1638) of Ganton by Mary, da. and h. of John Dawnay of Brompton Potter. educ. Clare, Camb. 1649; M. Temple 1650. m. (1) 18 Oct. 1655, Grace, da. of Conyers Darcy of Hornby Castle (later 1st Earl of Holdernesse), 1da.; (2) 12 Aug. 1658, Frances, da. and coh. of Sir Thomas Widdrington of Cheeseburn Grange, Stamfordham, Northumb., 4s. 2da. suc. gdfa. 1643; cr. Bt. 29 Dec. 1660.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Yorks. (E. Riding) 1657, Aug. 1660-3, 1664-d., j.p. 1658-d.; commr. for militia, Yorks. 1659, Mar. 1660, sewers (E. Riding) 1659, Sept. 1660, oyer and terminer, Northern circuit July 1660; bailiff, Scarborough 1669-70; dep. lt. (E. Riding) 1671-d.2

Biography

Legard’s family became armigerous in 1564, and his great-grandfather, a London Haberdasher of Yorkshire origin, bought Ganton in 1583. His grandfather supported Parliament at the outset of the Civil War, and he himself held county office during the Interregnum. But he assisted Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax, in the seizure of York in January 1660, and signed the Yorkshire petition for a free Parliament. He was returned for Scarborough at the general election on the interest of Vice-Admiral Lawson, ‘though he had a lesser number of voices’. The first of the family to sit, he was marked as a friend by Lord Wharton. Unseated by William Thompson, he was elected a month later for the same constituency to fill the seat vacated by Luke Robinson. He played no known part in the Convention, but presumably supported the Court, since he was rewarded with a baronetcy at the dissolution. He was buried at Ganton on 1 July 1678, and the family parliamentary record was not resumed until 1874, when the 11th baronet was returned for Scarborough.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / P. A. Bolton

Notes

  • 1. Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ii. 402.
  • 2. C181/6/404, 7/44; T. Hinderwell, Scarborough, 162.
  • 3. J. D. Legard, Legards of Anlaby and Ganton, 89-90, 94-96, 160-1; SP18/219/49; CJ, viii. 70.