HYDE, Robert (c.1561-1642), of West Hatch, Wilts. and Buckland Newton, Dorset

Hyde was born at Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, which his father had acquired by marriage. VCH Wilts. xiii. 210, 222; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xviii. 19-20. When the lease of Wardour expired, the family moved to a 350-acre property nearby at West Hatch in 1570. Wilts. RO, 135/19. 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. VCH Wilts. viii. 31; PROB 11/76, f. 10; PROB 11/108, f. 46v; C142/224/10; CSP Dom. Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 444. 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), Procs. 1614 (Commons), 395. 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. Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxviii. 590-1; E179/199/367. Yet, according to his nephew Edward†, future 1st earl of Clarendon, Hyde exhausted his finances trying to provide for his large family. Clarendon, Life, i. 2-3; CSP Dom. 1633-4, p. 559; 1635-6, pp. 408, 435. 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. VCH Wilts. x. 311; Hoare, Wilts. iii. 27; Wilts. RO, G20/1/17, f. 83v; Archd. of Sarum wills; 812/5, f. 89. 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. Hoare, Wilts. ii. 131; PROB 6/23, f. 68v. None of Hyde’s sons entered Parliament.