Background
Born at Westminster, London, Dartmouth was the eldest son of William Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth, and Lady Augusta, daughter of Heneage Finch, 5th Earl of Aylesford.
Born at Westminster, London, Dartmouth was the eldest son of William Legge, 5th Earl of Dartmouth, and Lady Augusta, daughter of Heneage Finch, 5th Earl of Aylesford.
He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.
He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1885 and 1886 and again between 1886 and 1891. The Honorary On 7 May 1868, he was commissioned an ensign in the 27th Staffordshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, and was promoted from lieutenant to captain on 19 August 1874. He played first class cricket for Marylebone Cricket Club in 1877.
Later promoted to major in the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, he resigned his commission on 20 December 1884.
The same year he was sworn of the Privy Council and made Vice-Chamberlain of the Household in Lord Salisbury"s first administration. The Conservatives fell from power in January 1886 but returned to office under Salisbury already in July of the same year, when Dartmouth was once again appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, a post he retained until 1891.
He left the Commons in August 1891 on succeeding his father"s titles. In October of the same year he was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (succeeding his father), which he remained until 1927.
He was also an Alderman of the Staffordshire County Council and a Justice of the Peace for both Staffordshire and Shropshire.
Lord Dartmouth was honorary Colonel of the 5th volunteer battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment from 1891, and of the 46th North Midland Divisional Train of the Royal Army Service Corps from 1908 to 1928, a period including the First World War, for which he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1917. On his retirement, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1928. Lord Dartmouth married Lady Mary, fourth daughter of the Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, on 18 December 1879.
They had five children:
William, Viscount Lewisham (1881–1958), later 7th Earl of Dartmouth.
Honorary Gerald (1882–1915), a Captain in the 7th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, killed in action during the First World War. Lady Dorothy Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1883–1974), Justice of the Peace for Staffordshire, married Colonel Francis Meynell (grandson of Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax).
Honorary Humphry (1888–1962), later 8th Earl of Dartmouth.
Lady Joan Margaret (1885–1939), Justice of the Peace for Staffordshire, died unmarried. The Countess of Dartmouth, who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920, died in December 1929.
Lord Dartmouth survived her by seven years and died at Patshull Hall, Staffordshire, in March 1936, aged 84.
21st United Kingdom Parliament. 22nd United Kingdom Parliament. 23rd United Kingdom Parliament.
24th United Kingdom Parliament]
Legge entered Parliament in 1878 as Member of Parliament for West Kent, a seat he held until the constituency was split in 1885, when he was elected to the new constituency of Lewisham.
In July 1901 he was appointed an additional member of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.