CHUDLEIGH, George (c.1578-1658), of Place Barton, Ashton, nr. Exeter, Devon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1578, 1st s. of John Chudleigh of Ashton by Elizabeth, da. of Sir George Speake of White Lackington, Som. educ. New Coll. Oxf. 1596. m. by 1606, Mary, da. of William Strode II of Newnham, 9s. 9da. suc. fat 1589. cr. Bt. 1622.

Offices Held

Biography

The Chudleighs had been lords of the manor of Ashton, near Exeter, since the early fourteenth century. Chudleigh himself was born and bred on the family estates which he inherited as a child. The house was an ‘extensive dwelling’ surrounded by a deer park. The property was skilfully managed during Chudleigh’s childhood, so that he received a considerable fortune when he came of age. His guardians were also attentive to his education, which was completed abroad for ‘the most exquisite breeding that age could yield’. He returned home ‘well improved’, and was said to be ‘a most polished gentleman’. He was connected with the Arundells of Trerice by the marriage of his sister to a son of Richard Carew, and it is his relationship with these two families that accounts for his return to Parliament for Mitchell in 1601.

During the civil war he served first Parliament and then the King. He died 15 Jan. 1658 and was buried in Ashton church six days later.

Vivian, Vis. Devon, 190, 718-19; GEC Baronetage, i. 206; Trans. Dev. Assoc. xix, 335, 337; xxxi. 193, 195-6; PCC 365 Wootton.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N.M.S.

Notes