| Authorised form of name | Leighton; Sir; Ellis (- 1685); courtier and government official |
| Other forms of name | Elisha |
| Other forms of surname | Layton |
| Dates | - 1685 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of death | St Andrew, Holborn, London, England, Europe |
| Date of death | 9 January 1685 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Church of Horsted Keynes, Sussex, England, Europe |
| Occupation | Government official; soldier; barrister; |
| Research field | Mechanics |
| Engineering |
| Activity | Education:
Cambridge, LLD Lit. Reg. (1665); Middle Temple (admitted 1667)
Career:
Colonel in Royalist Army; arrested and imprisoned in Windsor Castle (1647); went into exile after execution of Charles I; returned to England and arrested again (1649); appointed Secretary for English affairs in Scotland by Charles II during his brief initial term as King of Scotland (1650-1651); fled to Rotterdam with the Duke of Buckingham after Charles II was defeated by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester (1651); entered the employ of the Duke of York on the continent (1656); knighted in Brussels (1659); acted as a go-between for Royalists in exile and contacts in England; became Secretary of the Royal Adventurers into Africa after the Restoration, (1660); share in the secretaryship of the Prize Office (1664); KC, Admiralty Court (1665); counsel to the Navy Board (1667); called to the Bar (1670); sent to the French court to negotiate an alliance (1670); Secretary to John, Lord Berkeley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1670-1672); KC, Ireland (1672); Recorder of Dublin (1672); accompanied Berkeley on his embassy to France (1675); conceived a project for a 'cart with iron axel-trees' which was viewed by John Evelyn FRS (1678); a warrant was issued for his arrest for taking bribes and committed to the Tower of London (1675-1676); returned to England from France to surrender himself (1677); rearrested (1678); released, probably on grounds of poor health; lived in Paris (1682); final move to London and death (1685)
Honours:
Kt 1659 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 09/12/1663 |
| Proposer | Sir Robert Moray |
| Date of ejection or withdrawal | 1677 |
| RSActivity | Committee and panels:
Mechanical Committee (1664) |
| Other Royal Society activity | Proposed on 2 December 1663 and admitted 16 December 1663; Expelled for failing to pay his subscription |
| Relationships | Parents: Alexander Leighton
Siblings: Robert Leighton, archbishop of Glasgow |
| OtherInfo | Sir Ellis Leighton FRS was a Secretary of the The Royal Adventurers into Africa, later Royal African Company (RAC). This was a British trading company established by Royal Charter in 1660 which enslaved and sold African people. The company was chartered by Charles II, the founding royal Patron of the Royal Society, which was chartered in the same year. The RAC was made up of and funded by members of the Stuart royal family and London merchants and investors many of whom were, or went on to become, Fellows of the Royal Society like Ellis Leighton. The Royal Society itself held shares in the company until 1699. The RAC held a monopoly on English trade on the west coast of Africa. The original interest of the company was gold and other natural resources. The Company's second charter in 1663 mentions trade in enslaved people, who were mainly transported to British owned estates in the West Indies and America. The Jesus College Cambridge Legacy of Slavery Working Party has stated that the RAC was responsible for selling more Africans into slavery in America than any other institution in the history of the Atlantic slave trade, and that they ran a brutal regime with the full knowledge of their investors. The company became insolvent in 1708, it survived until 1752 when its assets were transferred to the new African Company of Merchants, which lasted until 1821. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Venn; Hunter; Evelyn
References:
Govier, M. 1999. 'The Royal Society, Slavery and the Island of Jamaica: 1660-1700', in Notes and Records, vol. 53, pp. 203-217
Hunter, M. 1982. 'The Royal Society and its Fellows, 1660-1700...' (British Society for the History of Science)
Notes:
DNB gives Christian name as Elisha, but signed Charter Book as Ellis and also called Ellis in Shaw's "Knights". |
| Code | NA5785 |