Henry Hyde

Who is Henry Hyde?

Sir Henry Hyde was a Royalist merchant beheaded by Parliament for acting as an envoy for the exiled King Charles II.

He was the son of Lawrence Hyde of Salisbury, Wiltshire, the attorney-general and MP.

Henry became a merchant and consul based for many years in Turkey. As a Royalist he was selected in 1650 by King Charles II, then in exile in France, to act as an envoy to the Turkish government to solicit their support for his cause. The official Parliamentarian ambassador, Sir Thomas Bendish, strongly objected and prevailed on the Turks to arrest him and ship him back to England. There he was imprisoned in the Tower, charged with treason and tried by a Court made up from the House of Commons which found him guilty and sentenced him to death. He was beheaded, after kissing the executioner's axe, outside the Old Exchange in Cornhill, London on 4 Mar 1650 .

His body was buried in Salisbury cathedral where his epitaph is inscribed on a marble tablet.