ROCHESTER, LAWRENCE HYDE, EARL OF (1641— 1711), English statesman, second son of Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, was born in March 1641. After the restoration of Charles II. he sat as member of parliament, first for Newport in Cornwall and afterwards for the university of Oxford, from 166o to 1679. In 1661 he was sent on a complimentary embassy to Louis XIV. of France, while he held the court post of master of the robes from 1662 to 1675. In 1665 he married Henrietta (d. 1687), daughter of Richard Boyle, earl of Burlington and Cork. When his father was impeached in 1667, Lawrence joined with his elder brother, Henry, in defending him in parliament, but the fall of Clarendon did not injuriously affect the fortunes of his sons. They were connected with the royal family through the marriage of their sister, Anne, with the duke of York, afterwards James II., and were both able and zealous royalists. In 1687 Lawrence Hyde was made Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth, and in November follow ing earl of Rochester. He was compelled to join in arranging the treaty of 1681, by which Louis XIV. agreed to pay a subsidy to Charles, at the very moment when he was imploring William, prince of Orange, to save Europe from the ambitions of the French monarch. In August 1684 he was removed from the treasury to
the post of president of the council. He was still president of the council when James II. became king in February 1685, and he was at once appointed lord treasurer. But in spite of their family relationship and their long friendship, James and his treasurer did not agree. In January 1687 he was removed from his office of treasurer.
After the revolution of 1688 Rochester, after a brief protest, accepted the new regime. From December 1700 until February 1703 he was lord lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1710 he was again made lord president of the council. He died on May 2, 1711, and was succeeded by his only son, Henry (1672-1758), who in 1724 inherited the earldom of Clarendon. When Henry died without issue on December Io, 1758, all his titles became extinct.
The correspondence of Rochester with his brother the earl of Clarendon, together with other letters written by him, was published with notes by S. W. Singer (1828). Other authorities are G. Burnet, History of his Own Time, edited by 0. Airy (Oxford, ; John Evelyn, Diary, edited by H. B. Wheatley (1879) ; and Macaulay, History of England.