Edward Hyde was the eldest son of Henry Hyde, second earl of Clarendon, and the grandson of Edward Hyde, first earl of Clarendon, famous as Lord Chancellor under Charles II and historian of the Civil War. Edward was the first cousin to Queen Anne and inherited the title Viscount Cornbury when his father succeeded as 2nd Earl of Clarendon.
Edward was educated at l’Academie de Calvin at Geneva .
After graduation, Lord Cornbury joined the elite Royal Regiment of Dragoons under the command of John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough to desert James II at the time of the Revolution. He thus ingratiated himself with William of Orange. Since 1685 he had been a member of the Commons, but owing to straitened financial circumstances he sought office in the Colonies.
Appointed governor of New York and later of New Jersey, he arrived at his post, May 3, 1702. Because of his relationship to the Queen he was received with unusual deference, but his administration in both provinces was a complete failure. "Careful inquiry into the course of Cornbury’s administration in New York on the whole substantiates the legend which portrays him as a spendthrift, a ‘grafter, ’ a bigoted oppressor and a drunken, vain fool”. Throwing his influence to the aristocratic Anti-Leislerian faction in New York, he secured from an assembly dominated by them a gift of £2, 000.
As the second Intercolonial War was raging, he obtained grants for the raising of men and supplies, but on the embezzlement of a large part of the money he was drawn into bitter conflict with the Assembly. He was eventually compelled to submit to the naming of a treasurer, elected by and responsible to the Assembly, through whom the public funds were to be expended. In spite of his peculations, he showed great zeal for the Church of England. He seized the church at Jamaica from the Presbyterians and unjustly prosecuted one Francis Mackemie, a Presbyterian minister, for preaching without the governor’s license. Finally the Assembly, September 11, 1708, unanimously adopted resolutions condemning various features of his rule.
Cornbury’s administration in New Jersey was even more disastrous. Great importance was attached to his policy there because after the surrender by the proprietors it rested with Cornbury to initiate royal rule. His Lordship took bribes, however, oppressed the Quakers, and came into collision with leading proprietors like Lewis Morris and Samuel Jenings. In May 1707 the Assembly of the Jerseys adopted an outspoken remonstrance against Cornbury’s policy which was read to the Governor in person by Jenings as speaker.
Among the charges brought by the Governor’s critics was the strange accusation that he forfeited respect by publicly appearing in woman’s attire. This has been put down as a mad prank due to Cornbury’s vanity in imagining that he resembled his royal cousin, but Stanhope declared that Cornbury endeavored in this way actually to represent Queen Anne. Finally, in December 1708, Cornbury was recalled. His numerous creditors at once caused his arrest, however, and he remained in the custody of the Sheriff of New York until the death of his father made him Earl of Clarendon and enabled him to return to England.
In 1711 he was raised to the Privy Council and in 1714 served as Envoy Extraordinary in Hanover. The impression left in America by Lord Cornbury is indicated by Smith, the Tory historian of New York, who wrote “We never had a governor so universally detested”.
At age 13, Edward matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 23 January 1675.
In 1688 Lord Cornbury married Katherine, daughter of Lord O’Brian. Lady Cornbury died in New York, August 11, 1706 in her thirty-fifth year.
