DUDDLESTONE Family of Bristol

This family only exists in Bristol for several generations, before dying out, at least in the male line. I don't know where they came from before Edward DUDDLESTONE appears in Bristol in 1612. The name is prone to mistranscription; many records at Family search have the names as "Duddisfont", as well as spelling variations such as Duddelstone, Duddlestoane, Dudleston.

Edward DUDELLSTONE married 20 July 1612 at St James, Bristol to Elizabeth HENLY. There are 3 baptisms that are presumably their children; Edward DUDDLESTONE son of Edward baptised 4th April 1616 at St Mary Le Port, Bristol, another Edward DUDDLESTONE son of Edward baptised 8 May 1622 at St Mary Le Port, Bristol & William DUDDLESTONE son of Edward baptised 12 November 1620 at Christ Church, Bristol, England.

On 16th June 1623 Edward DUDDLESTONE rented a tenement at Market St, St Mary Le Port for 40 shillings.

In 1637 an Edward and Alice DUDDLESTONE begin baptising children. If these are children of the Edward DUDDLESTONE baptised in 1622 he was either baptised late, or married and fathered children extremely young! It is also possible that the first son Edward also survived [maybe he was sickly when the second was born?] or the above children were not offspring of the same father. Hopefully as more records become available it will be possible to tell how many Edwards there were in Bristol!

Edward DUDDLESTONE was a bodice maker and his will was proved in 1663. His wife was named Alice and they had 7 known children;
1. Edward DUDDLESTONE baptised 19 November 1637 at St Mary Le Port, Bristol. Death not found. It may be this Edward DUDDLESTONE who went to Virginia and married Mary [ nee FOXHALL] VAULX & died at Westmore, Virginia in 1685, but was more likely his nephew.
2. Sir John DUDDLESTONE baptised 22 November 1638 at St Mary Le Port, Bristol. He was a bodice maker and a merchant & was knighted in 1690. See Below.
3. Alice DUDDLESTONE baptised 5 Jan 1640 at St Mary Le Port. She  married 10 Jan 1662/3 at St Thomas, Bristol to William HILL [the bondsman was John DUDDLESTONE & William HILL of the Parish of St Stephen, a baker was later the bondsman for Susanna DUDDLESTONE'S marriage to William SLOAPER in 1667], although another Alice DUDDLESTONE married 28 September 1679 at All Saints, Bristol to Bryant HAYES.
4. Susanna DUDDLESTONE baptised 18 September 1642 at ST Mary Le Port, Bristol. She married on 3rd September 1667 at St Thomas, Bristol to William SLOAPER, a cook of Christchurch. The bondsman was Susanna's brother-in-law William HILL.
5. Richard DUDDLESTONE was baptised 30th March 1641 at St Mary Le Port, Bristol. Nothing further is known.
6. William DUDDLESTONE was baptised 20 May 1646 at All Saints, Bristol. Nothing further is known.
7. Thomas DUDDLESTONE. No baptism found, died about 1706. Married a Margery and had ten known children, although sadly few survived. [Alce baptised 6 Jan 1666, Ann 25 Mar 1669, Elizabeth 27 Dec 1670, Edward 1672, Thomas 17 Dec 1674 & buried 21 August 1693, Barbara 18 Mar 1676 & buried 1678 St James, Bristol, Margery 23 Apr 1679, Joanna 23 Jan 1680 & buried 4 Sep 1683 St James, Bristol, Ambrose 19 Mar 1683 & buried 10 Sep 1683 at St James, Bristol & Ann 8 Jan 1683 and buried 12 Dec 1684 at St James, Bristol].Daughters Alice DUDDLESSTON married William NICHOLAS on 29 December 1692 at St Mary, Cannington and Elizabeth DUDDLESTONE married 2 June 1696 to William RUSCOMBE also at St Mary, Cannington. The latter baptised a son William Duddlestone RUSCOMBE on 17th June 1698 at St Mary & he was buried there 23 Feb 1732/3 as a Gentleman.
Thomas and Margery seem to have settled at Cannington, Somerset, although at daughter Alice's marriage in 1692 she was of St Stephens, Bristol. Margery DUDLESTON was buried at St Mary, Cannington on the 18th July 1711 and Thomas was listed in a property deed 23rd June 1704 as of Cannington [Bristol Records office]. State Papers of 1676-7 indicate that Thomas DUDDLESTONE was like Sir John DUDDLESTONE a trader in tobacco from Virginia.

Chandelier donated by Sir John Duddlestone to the Foster's Almhouse in 1701
Photo from bristolcharities.org.uk

Sir John DUDDLESTON became a Bristol Burgess on the 17th September 1660 through his father Edward DUDDLESTONE and as an Apprentice. His house fronted the righthand side of St Werburgh's tower, the back part of Shannon Court. He became a Councillor at Bristol in 1688 [Annal of 17th Century Bristol by John Latimer] and was Knighted in 1690* and became a Baronet on 11th January 1691. He became a Deputy Lieutenant of Bristol in 1694 [Calendar of State Papers William & Mary] and was Governor of the Poor in 1700-1. He is said to have suffered severe financial losses in "The Great Stornm of November 1704" from which he apparently never recovered [records of extinct Baronetcies claims he lost 20,000 pounds]. American immigration records show Sir John DUDDLESTONE accompanying a Thomas HUNGERFORD to Philadelphia in 1706. He can't have been completely ruined as a trading merchant however as he was Master of the Merchant Venturers in 1715-6, suggesting that he was still trading. After his death in August 1716 he was buried under the first pew coming into All Saints, Bristol, on the right hand side at the north door. His will was proved 20 August 1716. His eldest son had predeceased him, so his Baronetcy went to his Grandson John DUDDLESTONE [either son of Ebenezer DUDDLESTONE or Edward DUDDLESTONE or John DUDDLESTONE as they all had sons named John DUDDLESTONE and it is not clear which one survived past Sir John DUDDLESTONE] who died without heirs and the Baronetcy became extinct.
Sir John Duddlestone may have begun as a Bodicemaker, but it is as a merchant that he was best know. He imported tobacco from Virginia in the early 1700's. One of his ships was "Richard of Bristoll" and was built in Virginia in 1699. A surviving note shows that he was still active in Virginia in 1708; " 1 April 1708 Richmond County, Virginia. John Dudlestone of Bristol, Baronet "To my loving friend Mr Robert Valx of Popes Creek on Potomac River, power of Attorney to collect debts. Signed by John Duddlestone, witnessed by Robert Edwards, Stephen Harvey." [Robert Valx is probably the son of Mary Foxall by her first marriage to Robert Vaulx senior & so a stepson of Edward Duddlestone and half brother to Sir John's grandson, yet another John Duddlestone]
* There is a fairly unlikely tale that was much printed in Victorian times that John DUDDLESTON was knighted because he invited Prince George of Denmark to his house when the latter visited Bristol [seeing that no one else was offering hospitality].
John DUDDLESTONE married on 8th May 1667 at St John the Baptist, Bristol to Susannah LEWES. Susannah was baptised 17th September 1643 at St John The Baptist, Bristol, the daughter of Gittins LEWES and his wife Oriana. Dame Susannah DUDDLESTONE was buried 8th December 1718 under the same Pew at same Pew in All Saints that her husband was buried under. Sir John and Susannah had eight children;

         
Monument to Hester [nee DUDDLESTONE] Becher 1704 at All Saints, Bristol     John BECHER husband of Hester DUDDLESTONE

1. Edward DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 2nd March 1667/8 at All Saints, Bristol.
Alive on 17th April 1677 as listed in a property deed as a son of John DUDDLESTONE. Died by 1699.
This Edward DUDDLESTONE is probably the one who went to Westmoreland, Virginia [from where Sir John DUDDLESTONE was trading Tobbacco] and married as her third husband Mary [ nee FOXHALL/FOXALL] formerly VAULX or VALX then GORGES [and afterwards BUTLER  and finally BAGGE!] approximately June 1688. If so, Edward DUDDLESTONE can only have lived for ten more years at the most as by 1699 Mary was married to Caleb BUTLER [died 1709] and had a daughter Jane BUTLER in 1699 [Jane went on to marry Augustine WASHINGTON, who was the father of George WASHINGTON, but by his second wife, Mary BALL]. MARY BAGGE's will dated 2 Feb 1712 leaves her son John DUDDLESTONE 100 pounds Sterling. Neither Edward, nor his son John were referred to in Sir John DUDDLESTONE'S will of 1715, so presumably John junior was not living as he would otherwise have inherited the Baronetcy as the oldest male descendant of the eldest son.
2. Susannah DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 21 June 1669 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Presumably before her sister was baptised Susannah in 1673.
3. John DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 1st October 1671 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 4 February 1671/2 at All Saints, Bristol
4. Oriana DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 19 May 1672 at All Saints, Bristol.
Oriana DUDDLESTONE of St Werburgh, Bristol, married on 10th December 1689 at St John, Bristol to William ATTWOOD [mentioned as son-in-law in John DUDDLESTONE's 1715 will as was Oriana]. William and Oriana had 15 Known children.
5. Susanna DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 22 June 1673 at All Saints, Bristol
d. ? Alive in 1693.
Susannah DUDDLESTONE of St Werburgh, Bristol married 24th December 1693 at St Michaels, Bristol to Jeremiah DEVERELL[mentioned as son-in-law in John DUDDLESTONE's 1715 will] a Surgeon/Baber. He was alive in 1742. They had at least 2 children [Susannah & John]
6. Hester DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 27 June 1674 at All Saints, Bristol
d. 10 January 1704 at Bristol soon after childbirth and was buried on 11th Jan 1704 at All Saints, Bristol. There is a memorial to Hester at All Saints.
Hester DUDDLESTONE of St Werburgh married on 17th October 1695 at St Werburgh, Bristol to John BECHER [mentioned as son-in-law in John DUDDLESTONE's 1715 will] who was only 18 and apprenticed to Sir John DUDDLESTONE. . Burkes Irish Families incorrectly describes Hester as the only daughter of Sir John DUDDLESTONE. John and Hester had eight children, although 4 died in infancy and are buried with her at All Saints.
7. Ebenezer DUDDLESTONE [sometimes Eben or Nebenneazer]
b. Baptised 10 September 1675 at All Saints, Bristol.
d. 1711. Will proved 26 July 1711.
Ebenezer DUDDLESTONE was apprenticed to William NICHOLLS a ropemaker. William NICHOLLS had married Joan DUDDLESTONE on 24 May 1679 at All Saints, Bristol. Ebenezer was made a Bristol Burgess on July 14th 1696 through his apprenticeship. In 1696 he lived at Alders Key Lane [Aldworth's Quay] in the parish of St Stephen, Bristol. He married Leah and they had one known child, John DUDDLESTONE who was underage in 1715.
8. Lois DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 7 October 1676 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 27 December 1676 at All Saints, Bristol
9. Gittens DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 11 December 1677 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 9 November 1683 at All Saints, Bristol
10. John DUDDLESTONE
b. baptised 26 October 1679
d. Before 1715
Merchant. Married and had a son John DUDDLESTONE,.
11. Sarah DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 17 April 1681 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 30 November 1683 at All Saints, Bristol
12. Joseph DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 16 July 1682 All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 3 Oct 1682 at All Saints, Bristol
13. Elizabeth DUDDLESTONE
b. Baptised 21 October 1683 at All Saints, Bristol
d. Buried 31 March 1684/5 at All Saints, Bristol
14. Elizabeth DUDDLESTONE
b. & d. ?
Married Thomas CLEMENTS in 1682 [mentioned as son-in-law in John DUDDLESTONE's 1715 will]. Confusingly, this Elizabeth must be one of the older children to have married in 1682, but her baptism has not been located. Possibly as she was Elizabeth CLEMENTS in 1683 when her baby sister was baptised at All Saints on the 31st March, the infant was named in her honour.
 

There are several more DUDDLESTONE records from Bristol that must relate to this family;
Alice DUDDLESTONE married 28 September 1679 at All Saints, Bristol to Bryant HAYES
William NICHOLLS had married Joan DUDDLESTONE on 24 May 1679 at All Saints, Bristol.
John DUDDLESTONE buried 27 June 1680 at All Saints, Bristol
John DUDDLESTONE buried 4 March 1728 at St Werburgh, Bristol [presumably one of the 3 Grandsons of Sir John Duddlestone of this name]

Edward DUDDLESTONE [DUDLESTON] a bodice maker, was made a Bristol Burgess 17 September 1660 [same day as John D] by right of being an Apprentice to Edward DUDLESTONE. No mention is made of his father.
Edward DUDDLESTONE a bodicemaker was made a Bristol Burgess 28th September 1629.

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