Life
He was a grandson of Anthony St Leger. He took part in the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, together with more than ninety of their family and followers, the chief of the Gaelic and Catholic resistance in Ireland, fled to Europe. Sir William spent several years abroad.
Having received a pardon from King James I and extensive grants of land in Ireland, he was appointed President of Munster by Charles I in 1627. He warmly supported the arbitrary government of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, actively assisting in raising and drilling the Irish levies destined for the service of the king against the Parliament. He was a member of the Irish House of Commons from 1634, as MP for County Cork.
In the great Irish Rebellion of 1641 he bore the chief responsibility for dealing with the insurgents in Munster; but the forces and supplies placed at his disposal were utterly inadequate.
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