Thomas Dudley

Thomas Dudley
3rd, 7th, 11th, and 14th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
In office
1634–1635
Preceded byJohn Winthrop
Succeeded byJohn Haynes
In office
1640–1641
Preceded byJohn Winthrop
Succeeded byRichard Bellingham
In office
1645–1646
Preceded byJohn Endecott
Succeeded byJohn Winthrop
In office
1650–1651
Preceded byJohn Endecott
Succeeded byJohn Endecott
Commissioner for Massachusetts Bay
In office
1643–1643
Serving with John Winthrop
In office
1647–1647
Serving with John Endicott
In office
1649–1649
Serving with Simon Bradstreet
Personal details
Born12 October 1576
Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire, England
Died31 July 1653(1653-07-31) (aged 76)
Roxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Spouses
Dorothy Yorke
(m. 1582; died 1643)
Katherine Hackburne
(m. 1644)
Parent
ProfessionColonial administrator, governor
Signature
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of England
Branch/serviceForces of William Compton, 1st Earl of Northampton
Battles/wars

Thomas Dudley (12 October 1576 – 31 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home. He provided land and funds to establish the Roxbury Latin School and signed Harvard College's new charter during his 1650 term as governor. Dudley was a devout Puritan who opposed religious views not conforming with his. In this, he was more rigid than other early Massachusetts leaders like John Winthrop, but less confrontational than John Endecott.

The son of a military man who died when he was young, Dudley saw military service himself during the French Wars of Religion, and then acquired some legal training before entering the service of his likely kinsman, the Earl of Lincoln. Along with other Puritans in Lincoln's circle, Dudley helped establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sailing with Winthrop in 1630. Although he served only four one-year terms as governor of the colony, he was regularly in other positions of authority.

Dudley's daughter Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) was a prominent early American poet. One of the gates of Harvard Yard, which existed from 1915 to 1947, was named in his honor, and Harvard's Dudley House is named for the family, as is the town of Dudley, Massachusetts.