Wyche was admitted a gentleman commoner at Exeter College, Oxford, on 29 April 1643, matriculating, 'aged 15,' on 6 May following. He migrated in October 1644 to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1645 and M.A. in 1648. Next year he was admitted a student of the Middle Temple, and shortly afterwards went abroad. In May 1656 he was in Italy, where Hyde procured him a passport and a testimonial in Latin, signed by the exiled Charles II. He was knighted by Charles II at The Hague in May 1660, and shortly afterwards returned to England and was incorporated M.A. at Oxford. He was declared one of the fellows of the Royal Society upon its foundation by charter in 1662, and in 1665 was nominated chairman of a committee of the society appointed to consider the improvement of the English tongue, in which capacity he received a long letter from John Evelyn. In 1669 he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Russia, sending despatches home from Moscow in September. Upon his journeys he was 'honourably' entertained at Danzig, at Königsberg, and at Hamburg, in which city he was English resident to the Hanseatic cities for several years, his commission terminating in February 1682. Among the state papers are several of his letters to Sir Joseph Williamson, who was godfather to his eldest son.
Personal
Wyche was the eldest son of Peter Wyche, and born in London in 1628. He is believed to have died about 1699, married on 19 February 1666 Isabella, daughter of Sir Robert Bolles, bart., of Scampton, Lincolnshire, by Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Hussey, and had issue, first, John, English envoy extraordinary at Hamburg ; second, Bernard, a merchant at Surat, and father of Peter Wyche, who was in 1741 high sheriff of Lincolnshire; third, Peter, a merchant, who died at Cambrai; fourth, George, a merchant at Pondicherry.
Works
Wyche executed two capable translations from the Portuguese:
‘The Life of Dom John de Castro, the fourth Viceroy of India. Written in Portuguese by Jacinto Freire de Andrada’ This was dedicated to Queen Catherine, the consort of Charles II, prefaced by a brief sketch of Portuguese history by Wyche, and licensed for the press by Henry Bennett on 12 August 1663. A second edition, also in folio, appeared in 1693.
‘A Short Relation of the River Nile, of its Source and Current, and of its overflowing the Campagnia of Egypt’. This was translated from a Portuguese manuscript at the request of a number of fellows of the Royal Society. Sir Peter further extended his reputation as a geographical scholar by his ‘The World geographically describ'd in fifty-two Copper Plates’. The plates could either be bound or made up in packets on cards for purposes of instruction.
