SIDNEY, Algernon [1622-1683] -- English republican leader and martyr

Son of Sir ¤Robert Sidney. In the English Civil War, he was a cavalry officer on the Parliamentary side; wounded at Marston Moor (1644); governor of Colchester (1645), of Dover (1648-50); MP (1646); as commissioner at the trial of Charles I, he took no part in the trial; a severe republican, he retired (1653-59) on account of Cromwell's usurpation of power; member of Council of State (1659), dispatched to Denmark and Sweden as a mediator (1659-60); pardoned by Charles II on the Restoration, returned to England (1677); as a republican, he favored the Duke of Monmouth as successor to Charles II; negotiated with Louis XIV to secure aid for support of Monmouth, received moneys from French ambassador; discussed insurrection of the Whig leaders (1683); arrested on discovery of the Rye House Plot, convicted of treason, executed.

Author of Discourses Concerning Government (1698). [BD]