William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, PC, FRS (20 June 1731 – 15 July 1801), styled as Viscount Lewisham from 1732 to 1750, was a British statesman who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775, during the initial stages of the American Revolution. He is also the namesake of Dartmouth College.

Early Years

Dartmouth was the son of George Legge, Viscount Lewisham, who died when Dartmouth was one year old. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Kaye, 3rd Baronet. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1748, and succeeded his grandfather in the earldom in 1750. It was Lord Dartmouth who, in 1764, at the suggestion of Thomas Haweis, recommended John Newton, the former slave trader and author of "Amazing Grace", to Edmund Keene, the Bishop of Chester. He was instrumental in Newton's acceptance for the Anglican ministry.

Political career

Lord Dartmouth's political career began with the presidency of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations from 1765-1766.

Secretary for the Colonies

Lord Dartmouth was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775. He was in this role during the Boston Tea Party. He supported the Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act. In 1772, in correspondence with Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Northern Indian Affairs in America, he suggested that there was no reasonable way the British Government could support new trade regulations with the Indians. He sympathised with Johnson's arguments but stated the Colonies did not seem inclined to concur with any new regulations. He received many letters from North Carolina royal governor Josiah Martin in the summer of 1775 communicating preparations the Loyalist government was making against Patriot militia units and events of the revolution. He served as Lord Privy Seal from 1775-1782. Lord Dartmouth's arrival in the Colonies was celebrated by Phillis Wheatley's famous poem, "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth."

Philanthropy

Lord Dartmouth was a large donor to and the leading trustee for the English trust that would finance the establishment of the Moor's Charity School, in Lebanon, Connecticut, by Eleazar Wheelock to educate and convert the Indians. Wheelock subsequently founded Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, naming the school in Lord Dartmouth's honour, in hopes of getting his financial support. Lord Dartmouth refused. In London, Lord Dartmouth supported the new Foundling Hospital, a charitable institution for the care and maintenance of London's abandoned children. He served as a vice-president of the organisation from 1755 until his death. The famous painter Sir Joshua Reynolds painted the Earl's portrait and donated it to the hospital. The portrait is still in the Foundling Hospital Collection and can be seen at the Foundling Museum in London. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 7 November 1754.

Marriage and children

Lord Dartmouth married Frances Catherine Nicholl, daughter of Sir Charles Gounter Nicoll, on 11 January 1755. They had nine children together:

Death

Dartmouth died at Blackheath, Kent, on 15 July 1801, aged 70. He was buried in Trinity Church in the Minories on 3 August 1801. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George. Lady Dartmouth died in July 1805. The family lived at Sandwell Hall (since demolished) in Sandwell Valley.