British military officer and politician (1774–1860)
Colonel George Anthony Legh Keck (c. 1774 – 4 September 1860) was a British military officer, Tory politician and landowner who sat in the House of Commons representing the parliamentary constituency of Leicestershire from 1797 to 1831.
Early life
Legh-Keck was born at Stoughton Grange , Leicestershire , the only surviving son of Anthony James Keck , MP for Newton , and Elizabeth (née Legh ),[1] Lyme Hall , Cheshire . His wife, Elizabeth Atherton, inherited Bank Hall in Bretherton , Lancashire , which he renovated with help from the architect George Webster in 1832–33.
Career
Legh-Keck was returned to parliament five times as MP for Leicestershire between 1797 and 1831.[2]
Commissioned as an officer in the Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry in 1803, he later served as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the regiment until his death in 1860.[3] shako sporting a 12-inch white plume held in place by bronze chin scales.[4] [5]
In 1805 Legh-Keck bought the lordship of the manor of Houghton-on-the-Hill which remained in the Lilford family until 1913.[6]
His younger cousin was William Legh, 1st Baron Newton , who previously served as a Member of Parliament .
Personal life
The Legh-Keck arms at Bank Hall In 1802, Legh-Keck married his cousin Elizabeth Atherton, second daughter and co-heiress of Robert Atherton, MP , of Atherton Hall , Lancashire [7] Henrietta Maria Legh of Lyme . In 1832, he engaged the architect, George Webster to design extensions and renovate Bank Hall , her ancestral mansion at Bretherton , Lancashire , also installing box pews at St Mary's Church, Tarleton , where he was patron of the living . His wife, Elizabeth Legh-Keck, died at Bank Hall in 1837 as did he aged 86 on 4 September 1860, being buried at Stoughton Church .[8]
The Legh-Kecks had no children, so the Bank Hall estates passed to Thomas Atherton Powys (3rd Baron Lilford ) and the Stoughton estate to his wife's nephew, Major Henry Littleton Powys-Keck. Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford , who inherited Bank Hall from his father, the 3rd Baron Lilford , on 15 March 1861 auctioned its contents in April 1861 to cover death duties.
Lord Lilford then removed to his family seat at Lilford Hall , Northamptonshire , leaving Bank Hall empty and leasing it out.
Collections
Legh-Keck heraldic crests at Bank Hall . Legh-Keck collected stuffed animals and birds and sets of horns from species worldwide. He also owned a collection of classical-style statuettes and casts of figures by the sculptor Antonio Canova .
In 1830, the artist Thomas Phillips painted a portrait of Legh-Keck which now is at the Leicester Arts and Museums Service Collection .[9]
A large mural painted on the wall of the drawing room at Bank Hall, subject unknown was lost when the roof of the west wing collapsed in the 1980s.
There is a collection of Colonel Legh-Keck's accoutrements held by the Leicestershire Yeomanry Association .[10]
