Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon
British politician (1672-1753)
Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon and 2nd Earl of Rochester, PC (June 1672 – 10 December 1753), styled Lord Hyde from 1682 to 1711, was an English Army officer and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1692 until 1711 when he succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Rochester.
Early life
Hyde was the son of the 1st Earl of Rochester and Lady Henrietta Boyle, daughter of the 1st Earl of Burlington. He was educated at Eton from 1683 to 1687. From 1687 to 1690 he travelled abroad to Italy, Germany and the Dutch Republic. In 1690 he was Governor of the Merchant Adventurers. He joined the army and was guidon and major in the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards in October 1691 and cornet and major from December 1691 and served as a volunteer in Flanders in 1691 and 1692.
He married Jane Leveson-Gower, daughter of Sir William Leveson-Gower, 4th Baronet, on 8 March 1692. She served as a Lady of the Bedchamber at the court of Queen Anne.
Career
Hyde was returned by his father as Member of Parliament for Launceston on the Granville interest at a by-election on 15 November 1692. He then resigned his army commission.
The public source identifies “Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon” as british politician (1672-1753). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Henry, Hyde and Earl.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon”, the useful work is to connect “british politician (1672-1753)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5723485. VIAF identifies the subject as 498153596616851900009. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1672, 1753, 1682 and 1711.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon primary sources, Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon archive and Henry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.