Profile of the month: Dudley Digges
Dudley Digges was the son of Thomas Digges, a mathematician, and grandson of Leonard Digges, another mathematician who featured as profile of the month in our August newsletter. Dudley does not seem to have inherited their flair for mathematics: he was a courtier, diplomat and politician who took a leading role in disputes between Parliament and the Stuart monarchy and whose career ambitions were mostly disappointed.
Born about 1583, he was probably named after his godfather Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, one of Elizabeth I's favourites. By 1602 he was a member of the household of the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift. He spent a period in Europe soon after his 1605 marriage to Mary Kempe, who came from a Kent family of similar status to his own. He was knighted in 1607, soon after his return, and held a number of positions of local responsibility in Kent and Sussex.
In 1610 Dudley was chosen as Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, a constituency he represented in successive Parliaments. In 1628 he was MP for Kent. His first brush with royal government came soon after he first entered Parliament: he opposed royal demands for tax. The affair was referred to the Privy Council of James I, and he was ordered to destroy papers. Despite this he unsuccessfully sought a senior diplomatic position. This eventually came his way when he was sent on an embassy to Russia in 1618. Dudley's main function in Russia was to give a loan to the Tsar. But the Tsar refused to accept the terms of the loan, and simply seized half the money. What is most noteworthy about this mission is that Dudley took with him the gardener John Tradescant, who wrote an account of his own travels in Russia, which included an expedition to a monastery in the Arctic. In the same year Dudley was made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber of James I
From the early 1620s Dudley again used his parliamentary position to attack aspects of royal government. This did not stop him being appointed briefly a member of the Ireland Privy Council in 1622.
The real crunch came in the mid-1620s. Dudley had hoped to gain advancement with the help of the royal favourite George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, but nothing came of this. Dudley turned on the Duke, leading parliamentary attacks on him, and making the opening statement in impeachment proceedings against the Duke. This led to two short spells in prison, and he was removed from some minor positions of responsibility.
By 1628 Dudley appears to have been seeking reconciliation with Charles I, and it was rumoured that he might be given another ambassadorship. This did not happen. In 1630 he purchased the reversion of the senior legal position of Master of the Rolls - the right to take up the position when the then incumbent retired or died. At the time he had little legal experience (no disqualification in an age when public offices were bought and sold), but he became a Bencher of Gray's Inn and a Master in the Chancery Court (a more junior judicial position). In 1636 he became Master of the Rolls, but did not hold the position for long - he died in March 1639.
Besides his political activities, Dudley was actively engaged in trading, exploration and colonial activities. He was a member of the Virginia Company; was heavily involved with the East India Company (in 1614 he sought unsuccessfully to become its Governor); and advocated the formation of a West Indies Company. He was interested in efforts to find a north-west passage (along the north coast of North America) to the Pacific and was a founder member of a Company set up to trade through the Passage if it was discovered.
Team News
Three new Magna Carta Gateway Ancestors have been identified: the sisters Catherine, Maria and Margaret Duncanson: they are descendants of Surety Baron Gilbert de Clare. You can see the trail here.
New Members
The Project welcomed Alan Davis as a new member in September 2023.
