Hyde, Laurence, 1st earl of Rochester (1642-1711)
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About this picture
oil on canvas, c. 1685-7, after William Wissing. National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 819.
About the subject
MP for Newport 1660, Oxford University 1661, Wootton Bassett 1679 (Mar.) and 1679 (Oct.) Peer 1681-d. Second son of the historian and statesman the first earl of Clarendon, the exceptionally able Laurence Hyde was a key ally of his brother-in-law, and future king, James, duke of York, during the reign of Charles II. Like his father, a determined supporter of the Church of England, he could not support James’s plans for a Catholic revival. After the 1689 revolution, he became one of the leading lights of the Tory party.
