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"Thomas Dudley (1576-1653), was a colonial
magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.
He was born in Northampton, England, the son of Capt. Roger Dudley and
Susanna Thorne. It is postulated that his family was a scion of the noble
Dudley family, originally of Sutton, but the exact connection is still a
subject of some contention. He was orphaned at the age of fourteen after his
only living parent, his father, was killed at the Battle of Ivry. Thomas
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 immigration with
the Winthrop Fleet, Dudley served as steward to Theophilus, Earl of Lincoln,
and apparently performed an exemplary job in solving the Earl's financial
difficulties.
In 1629, with tension 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. Travelling 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.
It was Dudley who signed the charter of Harvard College when he was
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Thomas Dudley married Dorothy Yorke in 1603, who died in 1643. He was
remarried to Katherine Deighton the following year. His children include
Rev. Samuel Dudley, Gov. Joseph Dudley and the poet
Anne Bradstreet.
The ancestral Dudley castle is located at 52?30'50.89"N and 2? 4'47.62"W."
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relevant CelebrateBoston internal links added. Distributed under the
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