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THOMAS DUDLEY (1576-1653)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 637 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:DUDLEY (1576-1653)  , See also:British colonial See also:governor of See also:Massachusetts, was See also:born in See also:Northampton, See also:England, in 1576, a member of the See also:elder See also:branch of the See also:family to the younger branch of which See also:Robert See also:Dudley, See also:earl of See also:Leicester, belonged . He was the son of a See also:country See also:gentleman of some means and high See also:standing, was See also:captain of an See also:English See also:company in the See also:French expedition of 1597, serving under See also:Henry of See also:Navarre, and eventually became the steward of the earl of See also:Lincoln's estates, which he managed with See also:great success for many years . Having been converted to See also:Puritanism, he became a strict See also:advocate of its strictest tenets . About 1627 he associated himself with other See also:Lincolnshire gentlemen who in 1629 entered into an agreement to See also:settle in New England provided they were allowed to take the See also:charter with them . This proposal the See also:general See also:court of the See also:Plymouth Company agreed to, and in See also:April 1630 Dudley sailed to See also:America in the same See also:ship with See also:John See also:Winthrop, the newly appointed governor, Dudley himself at the last moment being chosen See also:deputy-governor in See also:place of John See also:Humphrey (or Humfrey), the earl of Lincoln's son-in-See also:law, whose departure was delayed . Dudley was for many years the most influential See also:man in the Massachusetts See also:Bay See also:colony, See also:save Winthrop, with whose policy he was more often opposed than in agreement . He was deputy-governor in 1629-1634, in 1637-1640, in 1646-165o and in 1651--1653, and was governor four times, in 1634, 1640, 1645 and 165o . Soon after his arrival in the colony he settled at See also:Newton (See also:Cambridge); of which he was one of the founders; he was also one of the earliest promoters of the See also:plan for the See also:establishment of Harvard See also:College . Winthrop's decision to make See also:Boston the See also:capital instead of Newton precipitated the first of the many quarrels between the two, Dudley's sterner and harsher Puritanism, being in strong contrast to Winthrop's more tolerant and liberal views . He was an See also:earnest and persistent See also:heresy-See also:hunter--not only the See also:Antinomians, but even such a See also:good Puritan as John See also:Cotton, against whom he brought charges, feeling the See also:weight of his stern and remorseless See also:hand . His position he himself best expressed in the following brief See also:verse found among his papers: " Letmen of See also:God in courts and churches See also:watch O'er such as do a See also:Toleration See also:hatch, Lest that See also:ill See also:egg bring forth a See also:Cockatrice To See also:poison all with heresy and See also:vice." He died at See also:Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 31st of See also:July 1653 . See See also:Augustine See also:Jones, See also:Life and See also:Work of See also:Thomas Dudley, the Second Governor of Massachusetts (Boston, 1899) ; and the Life of Mr Thomas Dudley, several times Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts, written as is supposed by Cotton See also:Mather, edited by See also:Charles See also:Deane (Cambridge, 187o) .

Dudley's interesting and valuable '' See also:

Letter to the Countess of Lincoln," is reprinted in See also:Alexander See also:Young's See also:Chronicles of the Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1846), and in the New See also:Hampshire See also:Historical Society Collections, vol. iv . (1834) . His son See also:JOSEPH DUDLEY (1647-1720), colonial governor of Massachusetts, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 23rd of See also:September 1647 . He graduated at Harvard College in 1665, became a member of the general court, and in 1682 was sent by Massachusetts to See also:London to prevent the threatened revocation of her charter by Charles II . There, with an See also:eye to his See also:personal See also:advancement, he secretly advised the See also:king to annul the charter; this was done, and Dudley, by royal See also:appointment, became See also:president of the provisional See also:council . With the See also:advent of the new governor, See also:Sir See also:Edmund See also:Andros, Dudley became a See also:judge of the See also:superior court and See also:censor of the See also:press . Upon the deposition of Andros, Dudley was imprisoned and sent with him to England, but was soon set See also:free . In 1691-1692 he was See also:chief-See also:justice of New See also:York, presiding over the court that condemned See also:Leisler and Milburn . Returning to England in 1693, he was See also:lieutenant-governor of the Isle of See also:Wight and a member of See also:parliament, and in 1702, after a See also:long intrigue, secured from See also:Queen See also:Anne a See also:commission as governor of Massachusetts, serving until 1715 . His See also:administration was marked, particularly in the earlier years, by ceaseless conflict with the general court, from which he demanded a See also:regular fixed See also:salary instead of an a>anual See also:grant . He was active in raising See also:volunteers for the so-called Queen Anne's See also:War, and in 1707 sent a fruitless expedition against See also:Port Royal . He was accused by the Boston merchants, who petitioned for his removal, of being in See also:league with smugglers and illicit traders, and in 1708 a See also:bitter attack on his administration was published in London, entitled The Deplorable See also:State of New England by See also:reason of a Covetous and Treacherous Governor and Pusillanimous Counsellors ..

His See also:

character may be best summed up in the words of one of his successors, Thomas See also:Hutchinson, that " he had as many virtues as can consist with so great a thirst for See also:honour and See also:power." He died at Roxbury on the 2nd of April 1720 . Joseph Dudley's son, See also:PAUL DUDLEY (r675-1751), graduated at Harvard in 169o, studied law at the See also:Temple in London, and became See also:attorney-general of Massachusetts (1702 to 1718) . He was See also:associate justice of the superior court of that See also:province from 1718 to 1745, and chief justice from 1745 until his See also:death . He was a member of the Royal Society (London), to whose Trans-actions he contributed several valuable papers on the natural See also:history of New England, and was the founder of the Dudleian lectures on See also:religion at Harvard . The best extended See also:account of Joseph Dudley's administration is in J . G . See also:Palfrey's History of New England, vol. iv . (Boston, 1875) .

End of Article: THOMAS DUDLEY (1576-1653)
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