Family and Education

b. c.1561,1 1st s. of Lawrence Hyde†, of Gussage St. Michael, Dorset and West Hatch, Wilts., and his 2nd w. Anne, da. of Nicholas Sibell of Farningham, Kent; bro. of Henry†, Lawrence I*, and Nicholas*.2 educ. New Inn and M. Temple 1580.3 m. c.1585 Anne, da. of John Baptista Castilion of Benham Valence, Berks., 5s. 3da. (1 d.v.p.).4 suc. fa. 1590.5 bur. 29 Mar. 1642.6 sig. Rob[ert] Hyde.

Offices Held

J.p. Wilts. 1615-d.;7 commr. swans, Hants, Wilts., Dorset, Som., Devon, Cornw., and I.o.W. 1629,8 inquiry, Wilts. 1631,9 sewers, Wilts. and Hants 1629-30,10 oyer and terminer, Wilts. 1631,11 charitable uses 1632,12 repair of St. Paul’s Cathedral 1633.13

Biography

Hyde was born at Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, which his father had acquired by marriage.14 When the lease of Wardour expired, the family moved to a 350-acre property nearby at West Hatch in 1570.15 At his father’s death in 1590 Hyde inherited substantial estates in Wiltshire, Dorset, and Somerset, although his mother retained a life interest in West Hatch. He himself resided at Buckland Newton, in Dorset, long after his mother died in 1606.16 He nevertheless maintained strong Wiltshire connections, and in 1614 was elected for Great Bedwyn, presumably on the recommendation of Edward Seymour, 1st earl of Hertford, who had employed Hyde’s brother Lawrence as an auditor for many years. Hyde received one committee appointment, to consider a private bill for Sir John Danvers* (31 May 1614),17 but otherwise left no trace in the records of the brief Addled Parliament, in which his youngest brother, Nicholas, helped lead the Commons’ attack on impositions.

Hyde was not appointed to the Wiltshire bench until surprisingly late in life, and only rarely attended quarter sessions; unlike his brothers he generally eschewed public duties except for occasional local commissions. In 1610 his subsidy assessment was set at £17 in lands and goods, among the highest in the region.18 Yet, according to his nephew Edward†, future 1st earl of Clarendon, Hyde exhausted his finances trying to provide for his large family.19 He had sufficient funds to established a loan charity to support leather workers in Devizes in 1631, and in his will, dated 8 Mar. 1642, he provided £10 to support five apprentices in Warminster.20 Hyde died soon after making his will and was buried at Tisbury. Administration was granted to his widow and heir, also Robert, on 2 June 1648.21 None of Hyde’s sons entered Parliament.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Author: Henry Lancaster

Notes

• 1. C142/224/10.
• 2. Vis. Wilts. (Harl. Soc. cv-cvi), 98.
• 3. M. Temple Admiss.
• 4. Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 80; The Gen. xvii. 76; Wilts. N and Q, vi. 342-3.
• 5. C142/224/10; R.C. Hoare, Wilts. ii. 131, 147.
• 6. Wilts. RO, 812/5, f. 89
• 7. C231/4, f. 5; Wilts. RO, A1/150/3, f. 789; A1/150/4-8, unfol.; Western Circ. Assize Orders 1629-48 ed. J.S. Cockburn (Cam. Soc. ser. 4. xvii), pp. xvii. 51, 177.
• 8. C181/4, f. 2v.
• 9. C181/4, ff. 87v, 91v.
• 10. C181/4, ff. 17v, 49v.
• 11. C181/4, ff. 88v, 101.
• 12. C93/13/17.
• 13. GL, ms 25475/1, f. 13v.
• 14. VCH Wilts. xiii. 210, 222; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xviii. 19-20.
• 15. Wilts. RO, 135/19.
• 16. VCH Wilts. viii. 31; PROB 11/76, f. 10; PROB 11/108, f. 46v; C142/224/10; CSP Dom. Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 444.
• 17. Procs. 1614 (Commons), 395.
• 18. Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxviii. 590-1; E179/199/367.
• 19. Clarendon, Life, i. 2-3; CSP Dom. 1633-4, p. 559; 1635-6, pp. 408, 435.
• 20. VCH Wilts. x. 311; Hoare, Wilts. iii. 27; Wilts. RO, G20/1/17, f. 83v; Archd. of Sarum wills; 812/5, f. 89.
• 21. Hoare, Wilts. ii. 131; PROB 6/23, f. 68v.