HYDE, William (by 1496-1557), of South Denchworth, Berks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1553
Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1496, 1st s. of Oliver Hyde of South Denchworth by Anne, da. and h. of Thomas Lovingcote of Love-days in Elvendon, Oxon. educ. ?I. Temple, adm. Aug. 1519. m. by 1517, Margery, da. of John Cater of Letcombe Regis, Berks., 12s. inc. Oliver and William 8da. suc. fa. 1516.1

Offices Held

Commr. subsidy, Berks. 1523, 1524, tenths of spiritualities 1535, relief 1550; j.p. 1530-47; escheator, Oxon. and Berks. 1547-8; sheriff 1551-2.2

Biography

The Hyde family held the manor of South Denchworth and other Berkshire lands of Abingdon abbey by the mid 15th century and Oliver Hyde received property in Oxfordshire on his marriage to Anne Lovingcote. Nothing is known of the education of their son unless he was the William Hyde admitted to the Inner Temple in 1519, the inn later attended by two of his grandsons.3

Active in county administration from 1523 Hyde was called upon to serve against the rebels of 1536 and attended the reception of Anne of Cleves in 1540. During the reign of Edward VI he was pricked sheriff and during that of Mary he became the first of his line known to have entered the Commons. His will shows that he held land of Sir Richard Brydges and Sir Francis Englefield, his fellow-knights of the shire, and Englefield, the dominant figure in Berkshire, may have had a hand in his election. Nothing is known about his part in the Commons save that he did not join the opposition to government measures either in 1553 or in 1555.4

In his will, made on 1 Apr. 1557 and proved on the following 20 May, Hyde estimated the yearly value of his estates at £198. His acquisitions included the manor of Kingston Lisle, Berkshire, of which Sir John Dudley had sold him the reversion in 1538, a transaction leading to some dispute between Hyde and Dudley’s stepfather Viscount Lisle. Hyde left his widow £100 a year and provided for his younger children. As executors he named his two eldest sons and as overseers Sir John Pollard and a ‘cousin’, John Yate. Hyde was buried, according to his request, in Denchworth church, where a brass was set up to his memory.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: T. F.T. Baker

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from marriage. Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 35; Mill Stephenson, Mon. Brasses, 20.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, iii-v, viii, xiii, xvi, xviii, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 81; 1553, pp. 315, 351.
  • 3. VCH Berks. iv. 224, 281-3; LP Hen. VIII, i.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xi, xv, xix; APC, iii. 443; PCC 16 Wrastley.
  • 5. PCC 16 Wrastley; LP Hen. VIII, add.; CPR, 1555-7, p. 149; E150/821/16.