He was the younger son of
Alexander Leighton;
Robert Leighton was his elder brother. During the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms he rose to be a colonel in the royalist army, was arrested in August 1647 at
Kingston-on-Thames, and was imprisoned in
Windsor Castle. After the
execution of Charles I he joined the royalist party abroad.
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham took Leighton into his service. In the autumn of 1649
Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine sent him to England, to enlist soldiers for the royal cause. He was closely examined in November of that year by the
Council of State and warned that he was likely to be proceeded against as a spy. Leighton continued his involvement with
Royal Africa Company affairs, eventually becoming the secretary of the corporation through the influence of the Duke of York, who would become the future
King James II. Leighton made an indifferent advocate, according to
Samuel Pepys. When
John Berkeley went to
Ireland in 1670 as
lord-lieutenant, he chose Leighton for his secretary. Leighton contrived to turn out of the Dublin corporation the recorder and several of the principal aldermen who were known to be opposed to Catholics. He then contrived his own appointment as
Recorder of Dublin, and received a present of money from the citizens. In 1675 he accompanied Berkeley on his embassy to
France, and, while arranging for the restitution of vessels captured by French privateers, took bribes on all sides. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he managed to evade it. Leighton died in the parish of
St Andrew, Holborn, on 9 January 1685, and was buried in the church of
Horsted Keynes,
Sussex, leaving a daughter Mary. He had a turn for mechanics, and became a Fellow of the
Royal Society on 9 December 1663, but was expelled in 1677.
John Evelyn went to see his project of "a cart with iron axle-trees" in September 1668. He apparently euphonised Elisha into "Ellis". ==Works==