Capt Roger Dudley

• born between 1535-1550 in Lidlington, Bedfordshire, England or in London. Also seen as born “probably in the fortress of Boulogne.”
• died by Oct 1588 when his wife's father wrote his will.
• parentage unproven. Argued to be the son of Henry Sutton Dudley (1517-1570) and Elizabeth (?) Ashton. “ Sir Henry died between 1568 and 1570, but no will is known to exist.”
• married to Susannah (Susan) Thorne, daughter of Thomas Thorne, Gent. and Mary Purefoy, on 8 June 1575 at Lidlington, Bedfordshire, England

Children

• Thomas Dudley baptized October 16, 1576 in Yardly Hastings, Northamptonshire.
• Mary Dudley baptized October 16, 1580 in London St. Dunstan. (?)
• Francis Dudley Francis Dudley, gen, [well born], bp 10 June 1583, Hardwick, Northamptonshire. “ The godparents of Francis were named in the baptismal record; they were members of a family who helped Thomas Dudley as a young adult.”

Children also seen without supporting evidence and disconnected

• Constance Dudley born before 1580 died 1586
• Richard Dudley born about 1583 in London St. Dunstan.
• Dorothy Dudley Dorothy baptized March 31, 1585 in London St. Dunstan.

He appears to have died in battle, with various sources providing conflicting dates. Douglas Richardson states: Capt. Roger Dudley died before 29 October 1588; Perhaps killed at the siege of Zutphen in 1586. An alternate death date provided on FInd-a-Grave (source?) is Mar. 14, 1590 at Ivry-la-Bataille.

The will of Thomas Dorne (Thorne) of Yardley Hastings, Gent., dated 29 Oct 1588, bequeathed "to the children of Susan Dudley, my Daughter, widow, £10 to be equally divided". (S1, S11). Therefore, Roger was dead at the time of the will of his father-in-law, which, written in 1588, eliminates the Battle of Ivry as a possible date for his death. It is most probable that he died at the Siege of Zutphen in 1586, having followed his kinsman, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, who was a principal figure in that battle, which also claimed the life of Leicester's nephew Sir Philip Sidney.

possible burial site: Great Oakley, Northamptonshire, England

CURATOR'S NOTE:

The question of Roger Dudley's parentage has been long debated.

Roderic Davis wrote (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dav4is/ODTs/DUDLE...):

"There has been much debate among historians and genealogists concerning descent of the Massachusetts Dudleys from the famous Barons Dudley of England. Suffice it to say that Rev. Samuel Dudley, oldest son of Governor Thomas Dudley, the immigrant, claimed such descent during his lifetime and apparently was not challenged. Furthermore, Governor Dudley himself was accustomed to using the arms (seal) of the Barons Dudley to seal legal documents bearing his signature. In fact, his will, written in his own hand, was sealed with the Dudley arms, indicating that he was descended from the Sutton-Dudleys of Dudley Castle. Since it was a serious offense under English law to use arms under false pretenses, it seems unlikely that Governor Dudley would so openly violate the law without himself being possessed of proofs of his right to those arms."

2003 statement by the late Marshall Kirk, a New England Historic Genealogical Society librarian: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2003-11/...

Noted genealogist Allen Curtis believes he has proven the case for Thomas Dudley as a grandson of Capt. Henry Dudley. See The Mystery of Thomas Dudley's Paternal Ancestors By H. Allen Curtis and Roger Dudley’s Father Proved to be Captain Henry Dudley by H. Allen Curtis for a good overview of the currently accepted ancestry of Governor Thomas Dudley,

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Other genealogists, including “Great Migration” expert Robert Charles Anderson and medievalist Douglas Richardson disagree. See the Geni discussion: https://www.geni.com/discussions/242244?msg=1528203

Proposed lineage:

1. Edmund Dudley (first son), d. 1487, m. Joyce Tiptoft.
2. Edward Dudley (first son), b. 1459, d. 1531, m. Cecily Willoughby.
3. John Dudley (first son), b. ca. 1495, buried on 18 Sep. 1553, m. Cecily Grey, b. ca. 1497, buried with her husband on 28 Apr. 1554.
4. Capt. Henry Dudley (second son, requiring crescent on arms) b. ca, 1517, d. between 1568 and 1570, m. 1545-1550 Miss Ashton.
5. Capt. Roger Dudley, b. ca. 1550, d. in battle bef. Oct. 1588, m. 8 June 1575 Susanna Thorne, baptized 5 Mar. 1559/60, d. aft. 29 Oct. 1588.
6. Governor Thomas Dudley.

There was another version of the ancestry that was put forth in the 1800s that claimed that Roger Dudley's parents were John Dudley, d. 1545, m. Elizabeth Clerke.

note: John Dudley and Henry Dudley were cousins, their common grandfather being Sir Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley. LDC

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dudley Roger Dudley (born between 1535 and 1545 – 1586?/1588?) was an English soldier. Dudley was born in London, England, and may have been baptised in Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire. Dudley's parentage has never been satisfactorily established. …
  • Richardson, Douglas; Everingham, Kimball; Faris, David (2004). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, p. 600
  • The life of Mr. Thomas Dudley: Several times governor of the colony of Massachusetts by Cotton Mather
• “Francis Dudley, an Unknown Brother of Gov. Thomas Dudley.” Barry E. Hinman. TAG Vol. 174, Fall 2020. Page 301-302. PDF
• Find A Grave Memorial# 124341732
• http://www.jeaniesgenealogy.com/search?q=Dudley+ If you read my blog you know that Robert Charles Anderson is my genealogy hero. He writes in his 2012 Winthrop Fleet, "many attempts have been made to place Roger Dudley, father of the immigrant, into the large and prominent Dudley family of Northern England, but without success.
• [5] Robert Charles Anderson, The Winthrop Fleet, (Sabine, Michigan : McNaughton and Gunn, 2012) 285.
• The Dictionary of National Biography article for Sir Henry Dudley, states that he "was apparently third son of John Sutton de Dudley' and later that "he is said to have married a sister of ... Christopher Ashton, but is not known to have left issue".
• https://archive.org/details/collectionsfora02socigoog/page/n191/mod... “ See note on bottom of page 5 and 6. The implication is the seal theory is bunk.”
• https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/481654/paternal-ancestry-of-gov-thomas... an accurate description of the timeline on how this theory of origins was developed. Note that the original hypotheses was developed by Kirk Marshall and he chose to never publish it. That is when H. Allen Curtis ran with it. Also interesting that Douglas Richardson had originally included the line in Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants and Plantagenet Ancestry. However, Richardson removed the line in his recent Royal Ancestry series.
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dudley-200
• https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00297337&tree=LEO cites
• [S00622] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists who came to America bef. 1700, Baltimore, 1995, Weis, Frederick Lewis; Sheppard, Walter. 53
• [S02408] His Lineage to King Henry II of England, 2 September 2007 , Richardson, Douglas. generation 16