Thomas Dudley (
October 12,
1576 July 31,
1653) was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, during which he sometimes clashed with his rival
John Winthrop. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home. As Governor, Dudley signed the Charter creating
Harvard College. Thomas Dudley Gate at Harvard College was named in his honor, as is the non-residential Dudley House. Dudley's descendants were early governors, ministers, judges, as well as the nation's first poet.
Early years
He was born in
Northampton, England, the son of Capt.
Roger Dudley and Susanna Thorne. Many have written that Roger Dudley was a scion of the noble Dudley family, descendants of
John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley. The exact connection remains a subject of contention
[Augustine Jones. The Life and Work of Thomas Dudley, The Second Governor of Massachusetts. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. (1900), pp. 3-10.], reignited every few years by a new theory. Dudley's mother, Susanna Thorne, was descended from
Henry II of England through her
Purefoy ancestors. Thomas Dudley's father was killed at the
Battle of Ivry, orphaning the young Thomas at the age of fourteen. He entered the service of several wealthy patrons, and was introduced to
Puritanism in the late 1590s.
In the 30 years between his conversion and his eventual emigration with the
Winthrop Fleet, Dudley served as steward to
Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, a job often delegated to promising young men of ambition, good lineage and little money. Apparently Dudley performed an exemplary job in the Earl's service: the financial mess the Earl had gotten himself into was apparently eased due to Dudley's efforts on his behalf.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
In 1629, with tensions between the
Puritans and the English government high, Dudley was chosen as one of the five officers to travel to
the Americas under the Royal Charter. He was elected deputy governor;
John Winthrop was elected governor. Traveling on the
Arbella, the flagship of the
Winthrop Fleet, Dudley arrived in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Perhaps due to his touchy nature, he clashed almost immediately with
John Winthrop over the location of the seat of government of the new colony.
Dudley served as governor in 1634, 1640, 1645, and 1650. Throughout most of the other years of his time in
Massachusetts, he served as deputy governor.
Dudley's letter “To the Right Honourable, My very good Lady, The Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln”, written in March 1631, narrated the first year’s experience of those “planters” who came over in Winthrop’s fleet of 1630. It appeared in print for the first time in the 1696 compilation, by
Joshua Scottow, .
It was Dudley who signed the charter creating
Harvard College when he was Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Family and property
Thomas Dudley married Dorothy Yorke in 1603, she died sometime before his next marriage which was in 1644. He then married secondly Katherine Deighton in 1644. His children include Rev.
Samuel Dudley of
Exeter, New Hampshire; Gov.
Joseph Dudley; and the poet
Anne Bradstreet.
The ancestral
Dudley Castle is located at .
Descendants of Thomas Dudley
thumb|right|400px|Charter creating Thomas Dudley, May 30, 1650/" class="wiki">Harvard College, signed by Governor
Thomas Dudley, May 30, 1650
Thomas Dudley may have been a descendant of the Sutton Dudley clan of England, descended from
Joan of Acre daughter of
King Edward I of England and his wife
Eleanor of Castile.
Descendants of his son
Joseph Dudley married to Rebecca Tyng
Descendants of his daughter
Anne Dudley married to
Simon BradstreetDescendants of his daughter
Mercy Dudley married to
John WoodbridgeDescendants of his daughter Patience Dudley married to Daniel Denison
Descendants of his son Rev. Samuel Dudley married first to Mary Winthrop (son of
John Winthrop), second to Mary Byley, and third to Elizabeth Smith
See also
