1689), and died 10 Nov. 1702 (Collins, i. 176).
[Collins's Letters and Memorials of State, &c., 1746, 2 vols. fol. (commonly called the Sydney Papers); Doyle's Official Baronage, ii. 349.]
SIDNEY, ROBERT, Viscount Lisle and first Earl of Leicester (1563–1626), born at Penshurst on the 19th and baptised on 28 Nov. 1563, was second son of Sir Henry Sidney [q. v.], by his wife Mary, daughter of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. Sir Philip Sidney [q. v.] was his elder brother. In 1573 his marriage with a daughter of the twelfth Lord Berkeley was suggested. He entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1574, his tutor being Robert Dorset, afterwards dean of Chester, and he read history with avidity. His father urged him to make his elder brother Philip his pattern in all things: ‘imitate his virtues, exercises, studies, and actions.’ About 1578 he started on a tour in Germany. Philip sent him two long letters of advice, in one pointing out how he might best profit by the experiences of travel, in the other suggesting a useful method of reading history. Robert was at Prague in November 1580, and suffered much inconvenience from the irregularity with which money was remitted to him by his father. Philip did what he could to supply his needs, and continued to send him good advice urging him, among other things, to take part in ‘any good wars’ that might arise in Europe, and practise fencing and the arts of self-defence.
Soon after his return home he married at St. Donats, on 23 Sept. 1584, Barbara, daughter and heiress of John Gamage of Coity, Glamorganshire. Next month he was at Wilton, and he and his brother Philip stood godfather to Philip, second son of his sister, the Countess of Pembroke [see Herbert, Philip, fourth Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery]. In 1585 he entered parliament as member for Glamorganshire, where the estates of his wife's family lay. He was re-elected for the same constituency in 1592.
In 1585, when Elizabeth resolved to support with an army the united provinces in their struggle with Spain, Sidney accompanied his brother Philip to Flushing (November). His uncle, Leicester, the commander-in-chief, soon appointed him captain of a company of horse, and he saw much active service. Next year he was present at the battle outside Zutphen, when his brother Philip was fatally wounded, and he spent much time with Philip at Arnhem up to the time of his death, on 17 Oct. 1586. Leicester knighted him on 7 Oct., and he acted as chief mourner at his brother's funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral in February 1587. Sir Philip by his will directed his father-in-law Walsingham and his brother Robert to sell his lands so as to meet his own and his father's heavy debts, and for a time Sidney was gravely embarrassed by his efforts to carry out the instruction. He was created M.A. at Oxford on 11 April 1588, at the same time as his friend the Earl of Essex, and in the autumn was sent to Scotland to convey to the Scottish king Elizabeth's thanks for his aid in completing the ruin of the Spanish armada. The death of his uncles, the Earl of Leicester in 1588, and the Earl of Warwick in 1589, each of whom made him his heir, improved his prospects. Meanwhile he was appointed (16 July 1588) governor of the cautionary town of Flushing and of the fort of Rammekins. He spent much time either at his post or in the field in command of a troop of horse. He was wounded at the siege of Steenwyck in June 1592. In November 1593 he was sent on a special mission to Henry IV of France to plead the cause of the French Protestants, and his intelligence and pleasant demeanour ingratiated him with the French king. He returned to London in April 1594. During 1596 and 1597 he energetically aided Sir Francis Vere in his struggle in the Low Countries with Spain, and distinguished himself on 23 Jan. 1597–8 at the great battle of Turnhout, winning the enthusiastic praise of Prince Maurice (Markham, Fighting Veres, pp. 255–261). But he was anxious for employment at home. With Essex, who married his brother Philip's widow in 1590, he engaged in a long and friendly correspondence, and Essex vainly used his influence to procure for Sidney the office of lord chamberlain on the death of Lord Hunsdon. In 1597 he was again returned to parliament—now as M.P. for Kent. During the political disturbances due to Essex's rebellion, Sidney discreetly remained at Flushing; but his visit of inspection to Nieuport in July 1600, and his withdrawal just before the opening of the great engagement there, unjustly exposed him to adverse comment (Sydney Papers, ii. 204; Markham, p. 304; Motley, iv. 28-9).
With the accession of James I he returned to court and was recognised by the new king as an old friend. A peerage was at once conferred on him (13 May 1603), and he became Baron Sidney of Penshurst. In June 1603
