Born in 1669 Henry Boyle came from aristocratic Anglo-Irish stock related to the Tory Hyde family but themselves of Whig views. Boyle was commissioned in the army but deserted James II for William of Orange and in May 1689 entered parliament as the Whig MP for Tamworth, which his father had also represented. Losing in 1690 he went to Ireland to manage his family estates and served in the Irish Parliament before returning to England and becoming MP for Cambridge University and later for Westminster. In the fluid politics of the time Boyle was Chancellor of the Exchequer of England under Godolphin but always retained his Whig associations. He was created the 1st Baron Carleton and died at his London home Carleton House, leaving estates in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, and Surrey.