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Henry Sutton Dudley

Male Abt 1517 - Abt 1569  (~ 52 years)


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  • Name Henry Sutton Dudley  [1
    Born Abt 1517  Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Died Abt 1569  [1
    Person ID I22440  Jerry Milo Johnson
    Last Modified 29 Mar 2015 

    Father John Sutton,   b. 1495, Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 18 Apr 1553, Westminster, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 58 years) 
    Relationship Natural 
    Mother Cecily Grey,   b. Abt 1497, Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Apr 1554  (Age ~ 57 years) 
    Relationship Natural 
    Married Y  [1
    Family ID F8025  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ashton,   d. 29 Oct 1588 
    Married Y  [1
    Children 
     1. Roger Dudley,   b. 1550, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Mar 1590, Battle of Ivry, France Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 40 years)  [Natural]
    Family ID F8023  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - Abt 1517 - Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Captain Henry Sutton Dudley (1517-1568) was a soldier and sailor of theTudor period.

      Dudley is often referred to vaguely as a "cousin" of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Henry Dudley was in fact the second son of John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley, and the younger brother of Edward Sutton, Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley. His mother was Cicely, the daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset, and was to continue the private struggle of his family against Tudor dynasty through into the reign of Mary Iof England.

      Born in Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, this lord Henry Dudley is not to be confused with that son of Northumberland named Henry Dudley who was born between 1522-1542 and who married Margaret, the daughter of Thomas Audley.

      Henry became a monastic auditor under Thomas Cromwell in 1535, and thena soldier serving in Ireland under his uncle Leonard Grey in 1536, andin Scotland from 1540-3. Dudley fought gallantly during the siege of Boulogne in 1544, and was made a Captain early in 1545 under Lord Clinton.

      It was about 1535/45, Probably at Boulogne that he married the daughterof Christopher Ashton, (b 1493) who was born about 1519 and who bore him a son, Roger Dudley.

      He was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas 1552-3 when Edward Fiennes was Admiral, and knighted at Hampton Court on the 11th October 1551.

      A close associate of his second cousin, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, he was arrested on 25 July 1553 for his complicity in the political maneuverings of the Duke of Northumberland. Henry was imprisoned in the Tower of London, but pardoned by Queen Mary on 18 October, 1553.

      Henry Dudley, having once been Captain of the Guard at Boulogne had many friends in France and in December 1555 visited Paris, where he was curiously well received by King Henry II of France. Although Dudley returned home with only the vaguest of assurances, even Pope Paul was ill-disposed toward the English Queen Mary because of her marriage into the powerful Habsburg family and that same month signed a secret treaty withHenry II against Spanish dominion.

      Henry Dudley and his agents moved in January, to conceal stores of ammunition at strategic locations, and also secluded an amount of money totalling fifty thousand pounds, previously withdrawn and removed from theExchequer, (where Dudley was a familiar visitor and had a number of friends), ~ ?in water by (London) bridge,? to make ready for an invasion planned to be executed by mercenaries and exiles. The money was to be sent to France where his Protestant exile supporters would follow the initiative through.

      In Spain, Charles V crippled with arteriosclerosis abdicated on January16, whereupon Philip and Mary became King and Queen of Spain, which atthe time held the Netherlands.

      Philip had received a letter confirming that given the mood of the English Parliament even down to the people discontent was such that their was scant chance of him also being crowned in England at the same time or in the near future. He had been raised to expect nothing less than absolute rule with his Queen and anything less would be ?unbecoming to his dignity? and so made only one brief visit much later to his Majestic wife in England.

      Sir Henry Dudley had returned to France, and by March was engaged in the raising of an invasion force, with the intention of landing it on theIsle of Wight, to march on London. Had the plot not been discovered, it?s intention was to remove Mary to exile in Spain where she could be happily reunited with King Philip and to bring about the succession of Elizabeth to the English throNE

      Bold and righteous as it was, it proved too daring for most of the English Gentry, who failed to lend it their support, "feebly, but not without some expectation, waiting for time to dispatch the evil Queen".

      It was Henry Dudley who now took the initiative, whilst greater noblemen trembled, Dudley was abroad organising a widespread and sophisticatedrebellion. Amongst his agents was the courtier and M.P. Henry Peckham,the son Sir Edward Peckham, then Master of the Tower Mint and a memberofthe Royal Council. Henry Peckham was detected in the plan to obtainfunds by robbing the Exchequer and he soon found himself a prisoner ofthe Tower.

      In July of 1555 he and his assistants were "hanged on the gallows of Tower Hill for treason against the queen .... and after cut down, beheaded and their bodies carried unto London Bridge and there set up and their bodies buried at Allhallows, Barking."

      It appears that once revealed the plot dissolved and Henry Dudley remained at large in France, his great scheme undermined by careless talk and too unwieldy an organisation. He was consequently to become an exile in the French service between 1556-1563, but was again to return home and serve as "Capt. Dudley" in 1563, receiving an annuity later the same year from Queen Elizabeth for his service.

      In 1567 he obtained from Elizabeth some protection from his creditors that was extended to 1568. Sir Henry died between 1568 and 1570, but no will or administration of estate has yet been discovered.

  • Sources 
    1. [S292] Genealogy of Neal Frank Carrier, Neal Frank Carrier, (Name: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carrier/ifamily/index.html;), http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carrier/ifamily/HTMLFiles/HTMLFiles_03/Edmond_Ingalls_P2153.html (Reliability: 3).


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