Francis Leigh, 1st Earl of Chichester

Francis Leigh, 1st Earl of Chichester ( 28 April 1598 – 21 December 1653) was a Royalist politician and courtier around the period of the English Civil War.

His father was Sir Francis Leigh; his mother was Mary, daughter of Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley. He was born, and eventually buried, on the family estate at Newnham Regis, Warwickshire. In 1613 Leigh attended Oxford University and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn two years later.

He opposed the King during the 1640 Short Parliament and actively campaigned for the summoning of the second (Long) parliament later that year. Despite this, he was appointed to meet the Scottish commissioners at Ripon in autumn 1640 and his opposition was further softened by both the militancy of the King's enemies and personal encouragement from Charles. His appointment as a privy councillor confirmed to all his defection to Charles' side. In March 1642 he was one of five lords to protest against the Militia Ordinance. At the commencement of the First English Civil War, he financed a Royalist troop of forty horse, and was Colonel of the Royalist Cavalry. died childless. His second marriage, (settlement 20 Jan. 1618), to Audrey, widow of Sir Francis Anderson (d. 22 Dec. 1616) of Stratton, Beds., daughter of John Boteler, 1st Baron Boteler of Bramfield by Elizabeth Villiers, and niece of James I's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The couple had two daughters.

His eldest daughter, Lady Elizabeth Leigh, married Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton who inherited the Earldom of Chichester on Leigh's death. Their only child, Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley, would marry Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland.

His second daughter, Mary, married George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison. Their granddaughter, Harriet Villiers, was the mother of Pitt the Elder.