What became of Alice Dudley when her husband deserted her in 1605? She cannot have been left penniless as she paid most of the bills to build St Giles-in-the-Fields in London in the 1620s.
The church was rebuilt in the 18th century, one of the first Palladian churches in England, so her work is lost forever. However, her munificence and his guilt at the outcome of the Star Chamber case prompted Charles I in 1644 to make her Duchess of Dudley. The wording of the King’s grant makes this clear.
And whereas, our father not knowing the truth of the lawful birth of the said Sir Robert (as we piously believe) granted away the titles of the said earldom to others … and holding ourselves in honour and conscience obliged to make reparation; and also the said great estate which the Lady Alice had in Kenilworth, and sold at our desire to us at a very great undervalue… we do… give and grant unto the said Lady Alice Dudley the title of Duchess of Dudley for life.
Now we must visit the Norman church at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire built of red sandstone.
The Norman arch above the chancel is worth admiring.
In the chancel is a memorial to the duchess in black and white marble. It is ridiculously grandiose for a country church.
She is recumbent in a shroud. Two cherubs with podgy legs stand between pairs of black columns blowing trumpets and holding open white curtains. There is a similar monument, almost certainly done by the same hand, to the Duchess’s sister in St Giles-in-the-Fields. She is also in white marble, recumbent.
The duchess died in 1669 and her generosity was perpetuated by an endowment to generate annually “the sum of one hundred pounds for ever, for the redemption of poor English captives taken by the Turks”. Charles II instructed Sir Orlando Bridgeman, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, to administer the bequest. The capital sum must have been substantial and one wonders what became of it. Perhaps it was diverted to pay for part of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea?
Probably the best account of Robert Dudley’s complicated life was written in the 19th century by an English politician, John Temple Leader: Life of Sir Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (Florence, 1895). It lists all the bequests in the Duchess’s Will.
1st. < 100 to redeem Christian captives from the hands of infidels. 2nd. Jg 400 to St. Giles' Hospital. 3rd. ^ 200 to apprentice poor parish children. 4th. ^P 100 per annum to each of the five poor parishes before mentioned. 5th. ** 50 to be distributed at her funeral. 6th. A gown and a pair of kerchiefs, to each of four- score and ten widows, who were to attend her funeral, and to receive a shilling each for a dinner afterwards. 7th. JS 1 5 to the poor of every place where her corpse should rest, between London and Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. 8th. Six pence to every poor body that should meet her corpse by the road. 9th. ^? 10 each for the poor of Blackley, Lich- borough and Patshill. 10th. < 50 to be distributed in the parish of Stone- leigh on the day of her funeral. The whole book can be read here.
You wonder what happened to Duchess Dudley’s estate. As a former Vicar of the Parish of Bidford on Avon, Warks, I was entitled to (I think) 3/108ths of the income from her will , although on practice this goes to the Diocese of Coventry. The estate owns quite a bit of land around Bidford. There are 12 parishes, or thereabouts, that benefit in this way. One is Stanmore in North London. She also bequeathed to each Parish a full communion set, in the case of Bidford a chalice, pattern and large wine flagon, all of silver guilt and I believe of Spanish workmanship. Under the terms of the bequest, if it is no longer required, it must be retuned to the estate, so it can’t be sold for the benefit of the Parish