17th Great Grandfather, John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
John Sutton was born on Christmas Day, 1400 at Barton under Needwood, in Staffordshire. Our connection to him runs all the way through the Lee line and then up through the Featherstonhaughs. Probably of more general interest than our family connection with Baron Dudley is the fact that he is the 8th Great-grandfather of George Washington, the First President of the United States.
At the tender age of just 22, he was already a seasoned soldier, taking part in the seige at Meaux as part of the Hundred Years War between France and England. It was during the seige that King Henry V, the popular English king and hero of Agincourt, contracted dysentery and died. John Sutton was charged with escorting the King’s body back to England, and was chief mourner and standard bearer at his funeral.
Between 1428 and 1430 he served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Dudley fought in several campaigns throughout the period of the wars with France, and on several ocxcasions acted as a diplomat in the mid-1440s, when he also met Charles VII of France. In 1443 he was made a king’s councillor and became one of the favourite companions of King Henry VI. In 1451 he became a Knight of the Garter.
The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, represented by a red rose, and the House of York, represented by a white rose. Early on in the Wars of the Roses John Sutton was a resolute defender of the House of Lancaster, but changed his allegiance to York before the Battle of Towton in 1461.
At the Battle of St Albans in 1455 – generally thought to be the start of the Wars of the Roses – John Lord Dudley took part with his son Edmund, where he was taken prisoner along with Henry VI. At the Battle of Blore Heath on 23 September 1459 he was again present, equally with his son Edmund Sutton, commanding a wing under Lord Audley. Dudley was wounded and again captured. At Towton (1461) he was rewarded after the battle for his participation on the side of Edward, Earl of March, son of Richard, Duke of York. On 28 June that year, Edward IV was proclaimed King in London.
He was the first of his family to adopt the surname of Dudley as an alias for Sutton. “John Dudley, Knyght, Lord Dudley”. He died testate in his 87th year. His will is dated 17 August 1487. The barony was inherited by his grandson, Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley, son of Sir Edmund Sutton who was the heir but died after 6 July 1483 but before his father.
The title is sometime referred to as Baron Sutton of Dudley. The peerage was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines. The holders of the title (until 1740) were the owners of Dudley Castle and an extensive estate around it, including the manors of Dudley, Sedgley, and Kingswinford.