Cyril Wyche

Sir Cyril Wyche

Sir Cyril Wyche PRS (1632 – ?1707) was an English lawyer and politician.

He was born in Constantinople, Turkey, where his father, Sir Peter Wyche, was the English Ambassador. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford with Bachelor of Arts in 1653. He received his Master of Arts (MA) in 1655 and his Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) in 1665. Between the time he received his MA and his DCL, he was knighted (1660). This is so close in time to the English Restoration that he was almost certainly a Cavalier, and may have served in the military for the Royalist cause.

He was an original member of the Royal Society and served as President from 1683–1684. He joined the bar in 1670 and became Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1692. He was a Member of Parliament for several districts at different times, (MP for Callington (1661–1678), for East Grinstead (1681–1685), for Saltash (1685–1687), and for Preston (1702–1705) From the Sackler Archive of Fellows of the Royal Society.

He married Mary, daughter of George Evelyn of Wootton and niece of John Evelyn, the diarist. Around 1690 he purchased Hockwold Hall (then called The Poynings) at Hockwold cum Wilton, Norfolk. He died there and a monument to him can be found in the church of St. Peter in Hockwold.

References

• Sir Cyril Wyche and the Popish Plot, 1678-80, Hugh Fenning, O.P., in Seanchas Ard Macha volume 19/2, pp. 53–62, 2002
• Herbert Rix, "Wyche, Cyril", Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 63