Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester

The Earl of Leicester MP, JP
Portrait by Peter Lely
Member of Parliament for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)
In office May 1659 – March 1660
Monarch	Charles 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
Monarch	Charles 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
Died	6 March 1698(1698-03-06) (aged 79) Leicester House, Westminster
Resting place	Penshurst Place
Nationality	English
Spouse	Lady Catherine Cecil (1628–1652)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation	Politician and soldier
Military service
Allegiance	England
Branch/service	Infantry
Years of service	1642 to 1643
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Unit	Lord Lisle’s Regiment of Horse
Battles/wars	Bishops Wars Irish Confederate Wars

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.

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. 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. In 1654 he was elected MP for Isle of Wight, a constituency that only existed in the First Protectorate Parliament. 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 his wife Lady Catherine Howard, in 1645. Their children were Dorothy and Robert; the latter succeeded to his father's earldom.

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. Henry Sydney (1641-1704) was a signatory of the 1688 Invitation to William, inviting him to remove James II of England from the throne.

Sources

• Hosford, David (2004). "Sidney, Henry, first earl of Romney". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25521. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Kelsey, Sean (2014). "Sidney, Philip, third earl of Leicester". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25523. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Scott, Jonathan (2004). "Sidney [Sydney], Algernon". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25519. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)