DUGDALE, SIR WILLIAM (1605-1686), English anti quary, was born at Shustoke, near Coleshill, Warwickshire, on Sept. 12, 1605. He married at 17, and lived with his wife's family until his father's death in 1624, when he went to live at Fillongley, near Shustoke, an estate formerly acquired for him by his father. In 1625 he purchased the manor of Blythe, Shustoke, and removed thither in 1626. In 1635 he met Sir Symon Archer (1581-1662), himself a learned antiquary, who was then employed in collecting materials for a history of Warwickshire, and accompanied him to London. In 1638 Dugdale was created a pursuivant of arms extraordinary by the name of Blanch Lyon, and in 1639 rouge croix pursuivant in ordinary. He now had a lodging in the Heralds' Office, and spent much of his time in London examining the rec ords in the Tower and the Cottonian and other collections of mss. In 1 641 Sir Christopher Hatton, foreseeing the war and dreading the ruin and spoliation of the church, commissioned him to make exact drafts of all the monuments in Westminster Abbey and the principal churches in England. In June, 1642, he was summoned to attend the king at York. When war broke out Charles deputed him to summon to surrender the castles of Banbury and Warwick, and other strongholds which were being rapidly filled with ammu nition and rebels. He went with Charles to Oxford, remaining there till its surrender in 1646. He witnessed the battle of Edge hill, where he made afterwards an exact survey of the field, noting how the armies were drawn up, and where and in what direction the various movements took place, and marking the graves of the slain. In 1646 Dugdale returned to London and compounded for his estates, which had been sequestrated, by a payment of £168. He collaborated with Roger Dodsworth (q.v.) in his Monasticon Anglicanum, which was published successively in single volumes in 165S, 1664 and 1673. At the Restoration he obtained the office of Norroy king-at-arms, and in 1677 was created garter principal king-at-arms, and was knighted. He died at Blythe Hall on Feb. ID, 1686.
Dugdale's most important works are Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656, 1786) ; Monasticon Anglicanum 1846) ; History of St. Paul's Cathedral (1658) , and Baronage of England (1675-76) . His Life, written by himself up to 1678, with his diary and correspondence, and an index to his manuscript collections, was edited by William Hamper, and published in 1827.