Jane Guildford, Duchess of Northumberland

Jane Guildford, Dutchess of NORTHUMBERLAND

Father: Edward GULDEFORD, Knt 1513
Mother: Eleanor WEST
Birth: 1509, Of England
Death: BEF 20 Nov 1555, Of Halesowen Manor, England
Partnership with: John Dudley, Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND 1551-3
Marriage: BEF 1530

1. Sir Henry Dudley
2. Thomas Dudley
3. John Dudley, 2nd Earl of Warwick - 1579-90 Birth: ABT 1529
4. Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
5. Henry Dudley - Birth: 1520/1554
6. Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester - 1564-88 Birth: ABT 1532, Of England
7. Guildford Dudley - Birth: ABT 1532
8. Mary Sidney Dudley - Birth: EST 1535, eldest daughter
9. Charles Dudley
10. Katherine Dudley Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon Birth: 1544/1545, Of England
11. Temperance Dudley
12. Margaret Dudley
13. Katherine DudleyChild: John DUDLEY Birth: 1520/1554

Child: Jane DUDLEY Birth: 1520/1554 - ?

Lady Jane Guilford Dudley Birth 1509 Kent, England Death 15 Jan 1555 (aged 45–46) Chelsea, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London, England Burial All Saints Churchyard Chelsea, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London, England Memorial ID 75092970 Duchess of Northumberland

Daughter of Sir Edward Guilford of Rolvenden and Halden, Kent, and Lady Eleanor West. Paternal granddaughter of Sir Richard Guilford, KG, and Anne de Pympe. Maternal granddaughter of Thomas West, 8th Baron de la Warr, and Elizabeth Mortimer.

She was the wife of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, with whom she was married in 1525.

Jane Dudley gave birth to 13 children, eight boys, and five girls.[2] In most cases, it is impossible to establish their birthdates exactly. An exception is Robert, the future favorite of Elizabeth I; he was born in 1532 as the fifth son, and possibly after the eldest daughter Mary, who became the mother of the courtier-poet Philip Sidney.[3]

The family life of John and Jane Dudley seems to have been happy and was free from any scandals;[4] around 1535 a poem praised the "love and devotion" of their marriage.[5]

Sir Edward Guildford died in 1534 before he could draw up his last will. Since his son Richard had predeceased him, Guildford's nephew, John Guildford, claimed the inheritance. The Dudleys maintained that Guildford's daughter Jane was the natural heir. They finally won the resulting court case with the assistance of Thomas Cromwell.[6]

Jane served as a Lady-in-Waiting to both Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves. She became Viscountess Lisle in 1542 when her husband was raised to that peerage, and as such was in the marriage procession of Henry VIII's last queen Catherine Parr at their wedding.

She became Countess of Warwick in the reign of Edward VI, and Duchess of Northumberland in October 1551.

When her husband and sons were arrested by Mary I on charges of treason, she did all in her power to save them from execution. She was unsuccessful in the case of her husband and son Guilford Dudley, but her other sons were released in 1554. Her eldest son, John Dudley, died in Kent soon after his release.

Jane was allowed to live in her Chelsea home following the fall of her family, which is where she died. Her monument lies at the east end of More's Chapel in Chelsea Old Church.

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