St. Leger family historical importance was Gen. Anthony St. Leger. He was born in 1731, probably in Kildare, Ireland. He was one of a group of noblemen and gentlemen who in 1778 gathered for a private dinner party in an upper room of the Red Lion Inn, which stands in the market square in Doncaster. A horse race, which was to set the pattern for classic racing throughout the world, had been christened the St. Leger at the suggestion of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. The race, a sweepstake for three-year-olds, had been born two years earlier in 1776, at the suggestion
St. Leger family Anthony de Saint Leger, Knight of the Order of the Garter who brought Ireland under the Crown. He served as Viceroy of Ireland for five terms. A plaque dedicated to Sir Anthony Saint Leger can be found in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. William Ledger and Elizabeth May were married at St. Margarets, Westminster, London, on April 25, 1595. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of Adam Leger, which was dated 1279, in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of Edward I of England. Several generations of St. Legers fought in the Crusades.