Lord Cornbury

Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, the first royal governor on New York and New Jersey, was notoriously corrupt. There is little historical debate about that. Whether he was also a flamboyant cross-dresser is the subject of more dispute.

Born into a family of prominent nobility, Cornbury ended up on the winning side of the Glorious Revolution, defecting to William of Orange shortly after he landed in England. In 1701, he was appointed governor of the New York and New Jersey colonies, beginning his service in 1702. While governor he sold favors, solicited and accepted bribes, embezzled government funds, and generally governed unwisely. He was also known for scandalously appearing in public dressed in women’s clothes.

Cornbury was said to enjoy going for walks while dressed as a woman, and to particularly enjoy springing out from hiding to startle passersby, while wearing women’s clothes. Lewis Morris, who would later serve as New Jersey governor himself, wrote that Cornbury “rarely fails of being dressed in women’s clothes every day, and almost half his time is spent that way, and seldom misses it on sacrament day...and this is not privately, but in the face of the sun and the sight of the town.” Prominent merchant Elias Neau wrote, “My Lord Cornbury has and does still make use of an unfortunate custom of dressing himself in women’s clothes and of exposing himself in that garb upon the ramparts to the view of the public; in that dress he draws a world of spectators about him and consequently as many censures.” According to Horace Walpole, Cornbury opened the 1702 New York Assembly while dressed as a woman and responded to complaints by saying that because he was a representative of Queen Anne it was appropriate that he try to look like her: “You are very stupid not to see the propriety of it. In this place and particularly on this occasion I represent a woman and ought in all respects to represent her as faithfully as I can.”

There is no record of how Lady Cornbury felt about her husband’s clothing choices, but there are reports that he refused to allow her enough funds for her own wardrobe, forcing her to borrow clothing from other ladies in the colony.

Historian Patricia Bonomi of New York University disputes the allegations of Cornbury’s crossdressing as inventions by his political enemies. Evidence supporting the validity of the claims include the number of supposed witnesses, the relative ease with which the claims could be disproven if false, and the fact that the claims are not of the sort normally created to discredit political opponents. For now, the allegations must be left classified as disputed, but widely believed.

Cornbury was removed as governor in 1708 and soon thereafter was placed in debtor’s prison, where he remained until his father died, elevating him to Earl of Clarendon and rendering him immune from prosecution for unpaid debts. Cornbury then returned to England and duly took his place in the House of Lords. He died in London at age 61 on March 31, 1723, three hundred years ago , having outlived his wife and all four of his children.

The portrait, by an unknown artist, is in the collection of the New York Historical Society, and is alleged to be Lord Cornbury, dressed as a woman.