Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester


Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1625 and then succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Leicester.

Life

Sidney was born at Castle Barnard, County Durham, the son of Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, and his first wife, Barbara Gamage. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1610 he was created Knight of the Bath when Prince Henry was created Prince of Wales. He was elected Member of Parliament for Wilton in 1614.
Sidney served in the army in the Netherlands during his father's governorship of Flushing, and was given command of an English regiment in the Dutch service in 1616. In 1618 he became a member of Gray's Inn. He was elected one of the two knights of the shire for Kent in 1621. In 1624 he was elected as the member for Monmouthshire and was re-elected for that county in 1625. In 1626, he succeeded his father as Earl of Leicester In 1631, he began the construction of Leicester House, a huge mansion on the site of what is now Leicester Square in London. He was employed on diplomatic business in Denmark in 1632 and undertook further diplomatic work in France from 1636 to 1641.
Lord Leicester was then appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in place of The Earl of Strafford. When the governorship of Dublin became vacant, Leicester appointed George Monck. Charles I, however, overruled the appointment in favour of Lord Lambart. In 1643 he resigned without having set foot in Ireland.
Lord Leicester died at Penshurst at the age of nearly 81. He was "esteemed of great learning, observation and veracity".

Family

In 1615, Sidney married Lady Dorothy Percy, the daughter of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland. They had twelve children, including:
Philip and Algernon supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.