DUDLEY, dos•en t 1647-1720 . A Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, the son of (;ov. Thomas Dudley. lie was born in Roxbury, Mass., and graduated at Harvard in 1665. He early became a member of the Massachusetts General Court. and was a magistrate of Roxbury in 1673. In 1682 he was sent to England with John Ilk-bards to endeavor to prevent the threatened repeal of the Massachusetts Charter, but, virtually taking the opposite side, he in gratiated himself with the Government. and in May, 1686. three years after his return. was appointed President of 'Massachusetts.
New Hampshire, and the King's Province' (New York), having previously acted for several months as censor of the press. On the coining of Governor Andros (q.v.). early in 1687, Dudley became judge of the Superior Court, but, when Andros was overthrown by the popular party, in 1689. he was arrested on a charge of tyranny and usurpation. and was imprisoned for five months, at the end of which time he was sent to England. where, however, he was almost imme diately released. the English Privy Council dis missing all charges against him. Ile then served as Chief Justice of New York from May. 16:t1, to September, 169•, presiding as such over the court which sentenced Leisler and Milbourne to death: returned to England in 1(193 or 1694, and served for eight years as Lieutenant-Go• ernor of the Isle of Wight. In 1702. after much
intriguing on his part. he was appointed by Queen Anne Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which position he held in spite of frequent protests on the part of the people, until 1715. As Governor he stood for preroga tive, and. though an able administrator. fre quently antagonized the colonists by his arbi trary conduct. coming into almost annual con flict, in particular. with the Massachusetts Gen eral Court over the question of a stated salary for the Governor, instead of an annual grant. In the latter part of his administration—during Queen Anne's War he was active in organizing and fitting out expeditions against the French and Indians. The historian Palfrey gives the unfavorable estimate of Dudley's. character: "Dudley united rich intellectual attributes with a groveling soul. To his mean nature, personal aggrandizement was the prime necessity. 110 hail paid one price for it by duti ful behavior in his early years. and another by useful eonduet in middle life, as often as snob •ondin4 would not thwart, and especially as often as it would further, the aims of his cupidity." For a somewhat detailed account of his administration as Governor of Massachusetts and New eon snit Palfrey. History of Neu. Englund. vol. iv. ( Boston, 1 S5S• 90) .