DUDLEY, alias SUTTON, John (1569-1645), of Compton Hallows, Staffs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

bap. 30 Nov. 1569, 2nd s. of Edward, 4th Lord Dudley alias Sutton by his 2nd w., and bro. of Edward Dudley alias Sutton. educ. Lincoln, Oxf. 1580. m. by 1591, Elizabeth, o. da. of Thomas Whorwood of Compton Hallows, 1s. d.v.p. 3da.

Offices Held

Biography

Dudley was the younger son of a bankrupt peer, his inheritance being limited to his father’s ‘chiefest apparell’, £300 and an annuity which, in the event, his elder brother was unable to pay. He made a runaway marriage, yet had to reside at his father-in-law’s house, never achieved the commission of the peace, and his one election to the Commons, for a county where he possessed no freehold property, was an arrant job on the part of his father-in-law, who was sheriff at the time. Dudley’s name does not appear in the records of the House, but as knight for Staffordshire in 1597 he was eligible to attend committees concerning enclosures (5 Nov.), the poor law (5, 22 Nov.), armour and weapons (8 Nov.), penal laws (8 Nov.), monopolies (10 Nov.) and the subsidy (15 Nov.).1

After 1598 Dudley played no part in public affairs. He died in 1645.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.E.M.

Notes

This biography is drawn in the main from H. S. Grazebrook, ‘Barons of Dudley’ (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. ix. pt. 2). See also STAFFORDSHIRE.

  • 1. St. Ch. 5/L11/24, L34/34; D’Ewes, 552, 553, 555, 557, 561.