[A biography of Sidney is given in the Memoirs of the Sidney family prefixed to the Collection of Sydney Papers edited by Arthur Collins in 1746. Lives are contained in the edition of his Discourses concerning Government published by Toland in 1698, and in the collection of his works published by Hollis in 1772. Other biographies are: Life of Algernon Sidney, 1794, the first volume of a series of Political Classics; Memoirs of Algernon Sidney, by G. W. Meadley, 1813, 8vo; Brief Memoirs of Algernon Sidney, by R. Chase Sidney, 1835; Life of Algernon Sidney, with Sketches of some of his Contemporaries, by G. V. Santvoord, New York, 1851, 12mo; Life and Times of Algernon Sidney, by A. C. Ewald, 2 vols., 1873; Algernon Sidney: a Review by G. M. Blackburne, 1885. The edition of Sidney's Works and Letters to Savile referred to in this article is that of 1772.]
SIDNEY, Lady DOROTHY, afterwards Countess of Sunderland) (1617–1684), 'Sacharissa.' [See Spencer.]
SIDNEY, Sir HENRY (1529–1586), lord deputy of Ireland, eldest and only surviving son and heir of Sir William Sidney by Anne, daughter of Sir Hugh Pagenham, widow of Thomas Fitzwilliam, elder brother of William Fitzwilliam, earl of Southampton [q. v.], was born probably at Baynard's Castle, London, on 20 July 1529.
His father, Sir William Sidney (1482?–1554), was eldest son of Nicholas Sidney, by Anne, sister of Sir William Brandon, father of Charles, duke of Suffolk [q. v.] His ancestor, one Sir William Sidney, was chamberlain to Henry II, with whom he came from Anjou. In 1511 he accompanied Thomas, lord Darcy [q. v.], into Spain as a volunteer against the Moors, and when Darcy, finding his assistance not required, returned almost immediately to England, Sidney and several of his companions remained behind in order to see Madrid. He was hospitably entertained by Ferdinand, but declined the honour of knighthood from him; and shortly afterwards, having gratified his curiosity, returned home through France. As captain of the ‘Great Bark’ he took part in the naval operations before Brest in April 1513, and later in the year commanded the right wing of the English army at the battle of Flodden. He was knighted for his services, and on 23 March 1514 obtained a grant in tail male of the lordship of Kingston-upon-Hull and the manor of Myton forfeited by the attainder of Edmund de la Pole [q. v.] In October he accompanied his cousin, the Duke of Suffolk, and the Marquis of Dorset to Paris, to witness the coronation on 5 Nov. of the Princess Mary as consort of Louis XII, and took a prominent part in the subsequent jousts and festivities. In the following summer he again repaired to France, charged with the delicate task of announcing the approaching marriage of the Princess Mary to the Duke of Suffolk. He was appointed a squire of the body to Henry VIII, and married in 1517. He accompanied the king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and in 1523, during the war with France, took part in the expedition commanded by the Duke of Suffolk. In March 1538 he was appointed tutor and steward of the household to Prince Edward. In 1539 he received a large grant of lands in Kent and Sussex in exchange for those held by him in York and Lincoln. His wife died on 22 Oct. 1543, and on 25 April 1552 Edward added to his estates in Kent the manor of Penshurst. He died at Penshurst on 10 Feb. 1553–4, and was buried in the parish church, where, in the chancel, is a raised tomb with a memorial tablet, on the sides of which are engraven the escutcheons of his four daughters and their husbands, viz. Mary, the eldest, who married Sir William Dormer of Ayscot, Buckinghamshire; Lucy, wife of Sir James Harrington of Exton, Rutland; Anne, wife of Sir William Fitzwilliam [q. v.] of Milton, Northamptonshire, some time lord deputy of Ireland; and Frances, wife of Thomas Radcliffe, third earl of Sussex [q. v.]
Henry's boyhood was passed at court in the constant companionship of Prince Edward, with whom (he wrote), ‘as he grew in years and discretion, so grew I in favour and liking of him.’ Shortly after Edward's accession he was constituted one of the four principal gentlemen of his privy chamber. He was knighted on 11 Oct. 1550 in company with William Cecil (afterwards Lord Burghley), his senior by nine years, and among the minor offices bestowed on him about this time by his royal patron were those of chief cupbearer for life. The esteem in which he was held by Edward rendered him an influential personage at court, and in order to attach him more firmly to his interests, John Dudley, earl of Warwick (afterwards Duke of Northumberland), in pursuance of his ambitious projects, gave him his eldest daughter Mary to wife. The marriage was celebrated privately on 29 March 1551, in consequence of his being obliged to accompany the Marquis of Northampton to France in connection with the proposed marriage between Edward and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II; but on his return it was ‘afterwards most publicly and honourably solemnised in Ely Place, Holborn, in the Whitsun holidays next following.’ He was the bearer in the following year of an offer from Edward VI to the king of
