Background
George Legge was the eldest son of the royalist Colonel William Legge by Elizabeth Washington (c1616–1688).
George Legge was the eldest son of the royalist Colonel William Legge by Elizabeth Washington (c1616–1688).
Naval career
In March 1672, now in command of HMS Fairfax, he took part in the attack, on the Dutch Smyrna fleet lying off the Isle of Wight, that was the immediate cause of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. In June he fought in the Battle of Sole Bay. The following year he commanded HMS Royal Katherine under Prince Rupert of the Rhine in the Battle of Schooneveld.
By 1683 Legge had risen to be Admiral of the Fleet and he was sent out to Tangier to oversee the evacuation and destruction of the ill-fated English colony there.
His last naval appointment was to the command of the Channel Fleet that unsuccessfully attempted to intercept the invasion force led by William III of Orange that landed in 1688 at the beginning of the Glorious Revolution. Appointments and Honours
As a close supporter of the House of Stuart he held numerous royal appointments and honours.
Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth 1670
Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (obtained reversion 1672, succeeded 1679)
Governor of Portsmouth 1673
Master-General of the Ordnance 1682
Master of the King"s Horse 1685
Constable of the Tower 1685
In 1682, he was elevated to the peerage by Charles II as the first Baron Dartmouth. Death
Following the abdication of James II, Dartmouth was dismissed by the triumphant William III, and imprisoned in the Tower of London in July of 1691.
He died in the Tower a few months later, on 25 October, without having been brought to trial, and was buried, as his father had been, in the church of the Holy Trinity, Minories, in London.
Cavalier Parliament; Exclusion Bill Parliament. Habeas Corpus Parliament.