Alice Leigh, Duchess of Dudley

1a. Alice Leigh, suo jure Duchess of Dudley (cr. 23 May 1644 for life) (b. c. 1579; dspm. 22 Jan 1668/9), mar. before 25 Sep 1597 Sir Robert Dudley, titular Duke of Northumberland (d. 6 Sep 1649), illegit. son of Robert [Dudley], 1st Earl of Leicester, and had issue ...

From Stoneleigh Village THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN

The chancel arch is perhaps one of the finest features of the church. Beyond the arch lies a monument, erected in 1668, to a proud lady with a bitter story and one of the few Englishwomen made a Duchess in her own right. Duchess Dudley, who was born in 1578, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh. She married Sir Robert Dudley, the illegitimate son of the famous Elizabethan Earl of Leicester. Later he abandoned her, living the rest of his life in Italy. She lies with her daughter Alicia, one below the other, both exquisitely carved in marble.

From Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica Page 263

To countenance his [Robert Dudley's] marriage with Mrs Southwell he alledged that his marriage wth ye Lady Alice Leigh was by the canon Law illegal, because he had carnal knowledge of her during the life of his former wife who was sister (SIC: cousin)to Mr Thomas Cavendish the famous Navigator.

From Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica. Page 283. "Alice, Duchess Dudley."

The very interesting account of this lady, her husband, and her issue, given in the "Family of the Dudleys" (pp. 259—263 ante), states that two of her five daughters died unmarried. This, however, was not the case, for though four of them died in her lifetime, only one, Alice (as to whom see p. 263), died unmarried. Of the other four :— ....

From Collections for a History of Staffordshire (Google eBook) William Salt Archaeological Society, 1888 - Staffordshire.  "The Barons of Dudley."  Page 114.  

There were 5 surviving daughters of Sir Robert Dudley (son of the Earl of Leicester by Douglas (laughter of Lord Howard of Eifingham) by Alice (created Duchess Dudley in May, 1641), daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh. 

Sir Robert Dudley was born in 1573, and after vainly endeavouring to establish his legitimacy, retired to Italy, deserting his wife and children, and taking with him Elizabeth Southwell (with whom he afterwards contracted a bigamous marriage) disguised as a page. The Emperor Ferdinand bestowed upon him in 1620 the title of a Duke of the Holy Roman Empire, whereupon he assumed his grandfather's title of Northamberland. 

Sir Robert Dudley had issue by the aforesaid Alice Leigh five surviving daughters: 

• 1, Alice; 
• 2, Douglas, who was married to William Dansey of Brinsop, co. Hereford, and was buried in August, 1649, at Brinsop, where in the churchyard is a flat stone inscribed, “ The Right Honorable ladie Douglas Dudley ” (see Robinson’s “ Manors of Herefordshire," p. 44); 
• 3, Katherine, wife of Sir Richard Leveson, K.B., of Trent-ham; 
• 4:. Frances, wife of Sir Gilbert Kniveton, Bart., of Bradley, co. Derby; and 
• 5, Anne, married to Sir Robert Holborne. 

From Wikipedia

Alice Dudley, Duchess of Dudley (née Leigh; 1579 – 22 January 1669), also known as Duchess Dudley, was the second wife of the explorer Sir Robert Dudley. In 1605, after giving birth to seven daughters, she was abandoned by her husband, who went into exile in Tuscany, remarried, and eventually sold his English estates. In 1644, by way of reparation for her losses, King Charles I created Alice Dudley a duchess in her own right "for her natural life", the dukedom thus created not being heritable.

Alice Leigh was a daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, 1st Baronet (died 1625), of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, who was created a baronet in 1611, by his marriage to Catherine, a daughter of Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton. Her father was the third son of Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London for 1558, and in 1643 her nephew Thomas (1595–1672) was created the first Baron Leigh.[1]

On 11 September 1596, at Ashow, Warwickshire, Alice Leigh married Sir Robert Dudley, the natural son of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, by Lady Sheffield.

Children:

• A daughter of this marriage, who was to be the first of seven, was baptised on 25 September 1597. Five of their daughters reached adulthood:
• Alice and
• Douglas (who both died unmarried), (SIC: Douglas was married, see above)
• Katherine (who married Sir Richard Leveson),
• Frances (who married Sir Gilbert Kniveton), and
• Anne (who married Sir Robert Holborne).[3]

Dudley was finally widowed in 1649, her husband dying at his villa near Florence after more than forty years in exile.[2] She was recorded as a generous benefactor to the parish of St Giles-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, then outside London.[6] After its medieval church had fallen into decay, a fine new Gothic building was built in brick between 1623 and 1630, mostly paid for by the future Duchess.[6] She died at her house near the church on 22 January 1669, having outlived all her daughters but Lady Katherine Leveson.[3] In her will, she left an endowment to generate annually "the sum of One hundred pounds for ever, for the redemption of poor English captives taken by the Turks", and King Charles II instructed Sir Orlando Bridgeman, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, to take steps to give effect to the bequest.[7]

Citations

• 1. John Burke, Sir Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland (London: John Russell Smith, 1844), p. 307
• 2. Simon Adams, 'Alice Dudley (1579–1669)' and 'Dudley, Sir Robert (1574–1649), mariner and landowner' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2007)
• 3. George Adlard, Amye Robsart and the Earl of Leycester with Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Dudley and A History of Kenilworth Castle (reprinted by Echo Library, 2007, ISBN 1848300123), p. 323
• 6. History at stgilesonline.org, accessed 5 July 2013

brief biography

From The Pall Mall Magazine, Volume 10 (Google eBook) 1896. "Stoneleigh and its Memories.". Page 353:

A granddaughter of the first Sir Thomas Leigh, Alice by name, was married to Sir Robert Dudley, son of the famous Leicester who entertained Queen Elizabeth right royally at his princely Castle of Kenilworth. It is curious to note in passing that, before the Conquest, Kenilworth "was a member of Stoneley, being ancient demesn of the Crown; and had, within the precincts thereof, a Castle situat upon the banks of Avon, in the woods opposite to Stoneley Abbey. Which Castle was demolished in those turbulent times of warr' betwixt King Edmund and Canutus the Dane."

Sir Robert Dudley, a few years after his marriage, left England for Italy, accompanied, not by his wife, but by a less estimable if more enterprising lady in the very beautiful person of Elizabeth Southwell, "who went with him into Italy in the habit of a Page and there married him"! He himself was strong and handsome, skilled in mathematics, and especially in navigation, on which subject he wrote a learned book entitled Arcano del Mare, profusely illustrated with plans and charts which are still to be seen in fresco on the walls of a room in the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence. He had also a great knowledge of chemistry, and invented some deadly poisons. His talents won him the friendship of the Duke of Tuscany, who allowed him a yearly stipend of about a thousand pounds; and also of the Emperor Ferdinand of Austria, who bestowed on him the title of Duke of Northumberland. He built himself a palace at Florence, and died in 1649.

Meanwhile Alice, whom he had deserted, remained at home, devoting herself to charity and widely spread good deeds; and being created by Charles I. duchess in her own right, was known as Alice Duchess Dudley. She survived her affliction well, for she lived to the age of ninety. Her portrait, taken when she was an old lady, is preserved at Stoneleigh, her little thin, sharp-featured countenance appearing out of the midst of the enormous ruff of the period, and surrounded by a white fluted cap under a black hood. She died in her house near St. Giles's Church in London, to which, amongst many other churches, she left large sums of money and various gifts, including "a neat pair of organs, with a case richly gilded," and "the great bell in the steeple, which, as oft as it ringeth, soundeth her praise." She also left a sum of money to t'le sexton of St. Giles's to " toll the Great Bell, when the prisoners condemned to die shall be passing by, and to ring out after they shall be executed." These gifts to various churches Duchess Dudley left on condition that her name should be mentioned in the sermon preached on Whit Sunday, a custom which to this day is faithfully observed by the vicar of-Stoneleigh. This good old lady's funeral must have given universal satisfaction, for she directed that her body should be taken from London to Stoneleigh for burial, and bequeathed "to fourscore and ten Widows (according to-the Number of the Years she lived) to each one a Gown and fair white Kerchief to attend the Hearse wherein her Body was carried, and one shilling a piece for their Dinner after that Solemnity was performed, which was on the sixteenth day of March, 1668. She appointed five pounds to be given to every Place or Town where her Corps should rest.—She ordered that sixpence should be given to every poor body that should meet her Corps on the road."

Dr. Boreham, the rector of St. Giles's, published a list of her charities in a little panegyric entitled, "A Mirrour of Christianity and a Miracle of Charity, or a true and exact Narrative of the Life and Death of the most virtuous Lady Alice Dutchess Duddeley." A marble monument in Stoneleigh Church to Duchess Dudley and her unmarried daughter Alice was the work of Nicholas Stone, mastermason to Charles I., who engaged him for p-^ the building and reparation of Windsor Castle, at the fee of twelve pence a day.

old notes

Dudley's marriage to Alice Leigh led to the birth of four (sic: five) surviving children:

1. Alice Dudley (born at Kenilworth Castle 1597 - 21 May 1621). She was wife to Sir Ferdinando Sutton, son of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley. (SIC: they were betrothed as children but did not marry)
2. Catherine Dudley (1598 - February, 1673). She was married around 1609 to Richard Levenson.
3. Frances Dudley (d. 1644) Married to Sir Gilbert Knifeton of Bradley, Derbyshire. She died without children.
4. Anne Dudley, married the lawyer Sir Robert Holborne of Bradley, Derbyshire.

Robert DUDLEY (E. Warwick)

• Born: 7 Aug 1573/4, Sheen House, Surrey, England
• Died: 6 Sep 1649, Florence, Italy
• Notes: See his Biography
• Father: Robert DUDLEY (1° E. Leicester)
• Mother: Douglas HOWARD (B. Sheffield of Butterwick)
• Associated with: Frances VAVASOUR contract early 1591
• Married 1: Alice LEIGH (dau. of Sir Thomas Leigh and Catherine Spencer) 1596, Kenilworth

Children:

1. Alice DUDLEY 2. Catherine DUDLEY

Alice DUDLEY

• Born: 1597
• Died: 21 May 1621, St Giles-in-the-Fields, London, Middlesex, England
• Father: Robert DUDLEY (E. Warwick)
• Mother: Alice LEIGH
• Married: Ferdinando SUTTON (Sir) (SIC: incorrect)

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• http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/leigh1839.htm
• Stoneleigh Abbey from its foundation to the present time. By Stoneleigh Abbey, Frederick Leigh Colville.  "A Genealogical Table of the Family of Leigh, Lord Leigh" Page 43-44

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Alice Dudley, the deserted wife, was left to console herself by doing good works and supporting the cause of Charles 1. She was responsible for building the almshouses at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. In 1645, she was created Duchess of Dudley by Charles I. She was said to be the most generous woman of her time in England, and she has a black and white marble statue and tomb in Stoneleigh church. The tomb was created before her death by the great master of English tombs, Nicholas Stone.