Roger Dudley "Militia Captain"

Roger Dudley, known in family material as “Militia Captain,” was an English soldier said to have been born between 1535 and 1545, possibly in London. His parentage and the circumstances and date of his death remain unsettled. He was reportedly married to Susannah Thorne and was the father of at least five children, including Thomas Dudley, later Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Evidence from a 1588 will indicates that Roger had died by 29 October 1588.

Roger Dudley was an English soldier, reportedly born between 1535 and 1545. The supplied family record identifies London, England, as his birthplace, while also saying that he may have been baptized at Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire. His parentage has not been satisfactorily established. In 1993, genealogist and researcher Marshall Kirk published a survey of the Sutton-Dudley families and concluded that Roger was a son of Henry Sutton Dudley; this conclusion is presented as a research finding rather than a settled fact.

Roger may have been the man admitted as a pensioner at Christ Church College, Cambridge, in 1566, who left without taking a degree. Marshall Kirk further suggested that, after his father's death, Roger lived with Peter Grey, described as a “Queen's servant,” at the manor of Segenhoe, about two miles from Lidlington, Bedfordshire.

It is believed that Roger married Susannah Thorne on 8 June 1575 at Lidlington, Bedfordshire. Susannah was recorded as born 5 March 1559/60 in Northamptonshire and baptized at Yardley Hastings. She was described as the daughter of Thomas Thorne and Mary Purefoy. Roger and Susannah were said to have had at least five children: Thomas, Mary, Richard, Dorothy, and David. Their son Thomas Dudley later became Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Richard Dudley was recorded as born in 1583 and dying on 20 August 1603.

Roger was reported to have served as a captain in the Earl of Leicester's militia, with a commission from Elizabeth I, and to have fought under the banner of Henry of Navarre. Family and later historical accounts have connected his death with the Battle of Ivry in France on 14 March 1590. However, a will made by his father-in-law, Thomas Thorne of Yardley Hastings, dated 29 October 1588 and proved 9 May 1589, referred to “the children of Susan Dudley, my Daughter, widow.” This wording indicates that Roger was already dead by the date of that will, making a death at Ivry in 1590 unlikely. The supplied material therefore considers it most probable that he died at the Siege of Zutphen in 1586, after following his kinsman Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, though this too remains unproven.

The record also states that Susannah Dudley died in childbirth in 1585 at St. Dunstan's, London. The 1588 will of Thomas Thorne nevertheless referred to Susan Dudley as his daughter and as a widow, and left £10 to her children, to be divided equally. This evidence supports the conclusion that Roger had died before 29 October 1588.

Later family tradition credits descendants of Roger and Susannah Dudley with a substantial presence in early New England. The supplied account states that William Dudley, a son of David Dudley, emigrated to New England sometime between 1636 and 1643 and was associated with the founding of Guilford, Connecticut. It also repeats a later tradition that three of William Dudley's great-grandsons renamed Owlsbury as Dudleytown; the associated story of Dudleytown as “America's most haunted town” is explicitly unsupported by a cited source in the supplied material.

Historical context

Roger Dudley's reported military service was placed in the late Elizabethan period, when Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was active in continental military affairs. The supplied material associates Roger with Leicester's militia and with campaigns connected to Henry of Navarre, but does not provide contemporary documentation confirming Roger's service, rank, or death in a particular battle or siege.

Sources & research

Richardson, Douglas; Everingham, Kimball; Faris, David. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, p. 600.
“Roger Dudley Proved to be the Son of Captain Henry Dudley.” http://www.familypage.org/RogerSonoHenry.pdf
Will of Thomas Dorne (Thorne) of Yardley Hastings, gentleman, dated 29 October 1588 and proved 9 May 1589; cited in the supplied notes as S1 and S11.
Cotton Mather of Boston, quoted in the supplied notes: “Thomas Dudley's father was Captain Roger Dudley, -- slain in the wars, when -- his son, and one only daughter were very young”.
Supplied notes include an unsupported citation-needed statement concerning Dudleytown and its later haunting legend.