Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester

Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester (10 January 1619 – 6 March 1698) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1659 and became Earl of Leicester in 1677. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when he was known as Viscount Lisle, a subsidiary title of the Earls of Leicester.

The Earl of Leicester
Portrait by Peter Lely
Member of Parliament
for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
In office
May 1659 – March 1660
MonarchCharles II
Member of Parliament
for Isle of Wight
In office
September 1654 – January 1655
Member of Parliament
for Kent
In office
July 1653 – December 1653
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office
April 1646 – April 1647
MonarchCharles I
Member of Parliament
for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
In office
November 1640 – April 1653
Member of Parliament
for St Ives
In office
April 1640 – April 1640
Personal details
Born
Philip Sidney

(1619-01-10)10 January 1619
Baynard's Castle, London
Died6 March 1698(1698-03-06) (aged 79)
Leicester House, Westminster
Resting placePenshurst Place
NationalityEnglish
SpouseLady Catherine Cecil (1628–1652)
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
OccupationPolitician and soldier
Military service
Allegiance England
Branch/serviceInfantry
Years of service1642 to 1643
RankLieutenant-General
UnitLord Lisle’s Regiment of Horse
Battles/warsBishops Wars
Irish Confederate Wars [1]

Family background

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Sidney was the son of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and his wife Dorothy Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland.

His younger brother Algernon Sydney fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, denounced Oliver Cromwell as a tyrant, and was executed for treason in 1683 for alleged involvement in the Rye House Plot.[2] Another brother, Henry Sydney (1641-1704), was a signatory of the 1688 Invitation to William, inviting him to remove James II of England from the throne.[3]

Career

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In April 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for both Yarmouth and St Ives for the Long Parliament in November 1640, and chose to sit for Yarmouth.[4] He was Colonel of a Regiment of Horse in Ireland in 1641.

Lord Lisle supported the parliamentarian cause in the civil war and was Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief of Ireland from 1646 to 1647. He survived Pride's Purge in 1648 to sit in the Rump Parliament and was a councillor of state from 1648 to 1650. He was appointed a judge for the trial of King Charles I but declined to act. He was president of the council from 1651 to 1652. He was councillor of state and councillor to the lord protector in 1653. Also in 1653, he was elected MP for Kent in the Barebones Parliament.[4] In 1654 he was elected MP for Isle of Wight, a constituency that only existed in the First Protectorate Parliament.[4] He was appointed to Cromwell's "House of Lords" in 1658 under the designation "Lord Viscount Lisle". In 1659 he was returned to the House of Commons for the Restored Rump parliament.

On the restoration of King Charles II in 1660 Lord Lisle received a pardon. In 1677 he inherited the Earldom on the death of his father.

Marriage and issue

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Lord Lisle married Lady Catherine Cecil, daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, and his wife Lady Catherine Howard, in 1645. Their children were Dorothy and Robert; the latter succeeded to his father's earldom.

An illegitimate daughter, Philadelphia Saunders, married Colonel John Shrimpton, later MP for Whitchurch, Hampshire and Governor of Gibraltar.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Kelsey 2014.
  2. ^ Scott 2004.
  3. ^ Hosford 2004.
  4. ^ a b c Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
  5. ^ "SHRIMPTON, John (d. 1707), of Stoke Dry, Rutland". History of Parliament. Retrieved 29 January 2024.

Sources

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Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
1640–1653
With: Sir John Leigh 1640–1648
Succeeded by
Not represented in Barebones Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for St Ives
1640
With: Francis Godolphin
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Kent
1653
With: Thomas Blount
William Kenrick
William Cullen
Andrew Broughton
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Constituency not in existence
Member of Parliament for Isle of Wight
1654
With: William Sydenham
Succeeded by
Constituency not continued
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
1659–1660
With: Sir John Leigh 160
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Leicester
1677–1698
Succeeded by
Baron Sydney
(descended by acceleration)

1677–1689
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1646–1647
Succeeded by