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 inherited the peerage of Earl of Leicester in 1677. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was known as Viscount Lisle or (Lord Lisle) a subsidiary title of the Earls of Leicester.

Sidney was the son of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester and his wife Dorothy Percy, daughter of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland. 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.[1] He was Colonel of a Regiment of Horse in Ireland in 1641.

Lord Lisle supported the Parliamentary 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.[1] In 1654 he was elected MP for Isle of Wight, a constituency that only existed in the First Protectorate Parliament.[1] 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.

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

Two of Lord Lisle's brothers supported parliament in the Civil War. Algernon Sydney was a Parliamentarian "martyr", but Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney did not follow the cause to the same treasonous extremes.

References

Parliament of England
Preceded by
William Oglander
John Bulkeley
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
William Dell
Sir Henry Marten
Member of Parliament for St Ives
1640
With: Francis Godolphin
Succeeded by
Francis Godolphin
Edmund Waller
Preceded by
Augustine Skinner
Member of Parliament for Kent
1653
With: Thomas Blount
William Kenrick
William Cullen
Andrew Broughton
Succeeded by
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Oxenden


William James
Colonel John Dixwell
John Boys
Sir Henry Vane (senior)
Lambert Godfrey
Colonel Richard Beal
Augustine Skinner
John Selliard
Colonel Ralph Weldon
Daniel Shatterden

Preceded by
Constituency not in existence
Member of Parliament for Isle of Wight
1654
With: William Sydenham
Succeeded by
Constituency not continued
Preceded by
John Sadler
Richard Lucy
Member of Parliament for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
1659–1660
With: Sir John Leigh 160
Succeeded by
Edward Smythe
Richard Lucy
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Robert Sidney
Earl of Leicester
1677–1698
Succeeded by
Robert Sidney
Baron Sydney
(descended by acceleration)

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