Edward Hyde, born in 1667 to a…

Edward Hyde, born in 1667 to a prominent family in England, is a cousin of Queen Anne and a son of Robert Hyde and his wife Phillis Snyed of Cheshire in England.

Together with his sisters, Anne and Penelope, Hyde had been raised by his grandmother, since his parents had died when he was only three.

He had entered Oxford University in 1683, but did not complete a degree.

He had in 1692 married Catherine Rigby, whose family are prominent in Cheshire.

Appointed by Queen Anne in 1702 as Jamaica’s provost marshal, Hyde had served in that position without ever traveling to the Caribbean, but found it not lucrative.

Although the territory between the Virginia border and the Cape Fear River had officially been recognized as North Carolina as early as 1689, that territory and all of what will become South Carolina is known as the Province of Carolina, with the Governor maintaining his residence at Charleston.

Hyde had in 1710 been appointed Deputy Governor for the Colony of Carolina by the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony; his charge is the northern part of the province.

He has brought with him letters from the Lords Proprietors and is supposed to receive his full, official commission from the Governor of Carolina when he arrives.

On arrival in Virginia, however, Hyde discovers that Governor Edward Tynte, who had been appointed Governor of the Carolina Colony in 1708, and from whom he is to receive his commission, has died.

Hyde in January, 1711, proceeds without his commission to North Carolina, where he finds dissension about to erupt in violence.