Thomas Dudley (
October 12, 1576 –
July 31, 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. His mother, however, was descended from
Henry II of England. 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.
Dudley's letter “To the Right Honourable, My very good Lady, The Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln,” written in March 1631, narrated the first year’s experience of those “planters” who came over in Winthrop’s fleet of 1630. It appeared in print for the first time in the 1696 compilation, by
Joshua Scottow, MASSACHUSETTS: or The first Planters of New-England, The End and Manner of their coming thither, and Abode there: In several EPISTLES (1696).
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 .
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