At the commencement of the civil war he became very active in the west of England for the parliament against the king. In May 1643 the Earl of Stamford, who had just entered Cornwall with an army of seven thousand men, sent a party of twelve hundred horse, under the command of Chudleigh, to Bodmin, in order to surprise the high sheriff and gentlemen of the county. When Chudleigh heard of the defeat of the parliamentarian army, commanded by his son Major-general James Chudleigh [q. v.], at Stratton Hill, he removed from Bodmin to Plymouth, and thence to Exeter. After Stamford had accused James Chudleigh of treachery, Sir George surrendered his commission, and published a 'Declaration' which is reprinted in Rushworth's ' Historical Collections,' vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 272. Subsequently he espoused the cause of the king. He died in 1667, and was buried in Ashton church. He married Mary, daughter of Sir William Strode, knight, and left three sons and three daughters.
The following civil war tracts relate to him: 1. 'A Declaration for the Protection of Sir G. Chudleigh [and others] who have lately beene proclaimed traytors by his majestie,' 1642, s.sh. fol. 2. 'A Letter from Exceter, sent to the Deputy Lievtenants of Sommersetshire, subscribed George Chudley, and Nich. Martin. Shewing how Colonell Ruthen sallyed out of Plymouth, and hath taken Sir Edward Fortescue, Sir Edward Seymore, and divers other Gentlemen of note prisoners,' Lond. 14 Dec. 1642, 4to. 3. 'A Declaration published in the County of Devon by that Grand Ambo-dexter, Sir George Chudleigh, Baronet, to delude his Countrymen in their Judgement and Affections, touching the present differences between his Majestie and the Parliament. Together with a full and satisfactory Answer thereunto, transmitted from thence under the Hand of a Iudicious and well Affected Patriot,' Lond. 1644 [i.e. 14 March 1643–4], 4to.
[Willis's Notitia Parliamentaria, vol. iii. pt. ii. pp. 147, 168, 177, 189, 199; Official Lists of Members of Parliament, pp. 437, 460, 457, 463; Rapin's Hist. of England, 2nd edit. ii. 478, 479; Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion (1848), pp. 397, 398; Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, p. 115; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Cat of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]
CHUDLEIGH, JAMES (d. 1643), parliamentarian major-general, was third son of Sir George Chudleigh, bart. [q. v.], of Ashton, Devonshire (Burke, Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, p. 115). At the commencement of the civil war he and his father took up arms on the side of the parliament. On 20 March 1640–1 the officers in Yorkshire despatched a letter to the Earl of Northumberland detailing their grievances. This letter was brought to London by Captain Chudleigh, who remained in town for nine or ten days, during which time he was in constant communication with Suckling, and he was sent back to the north with instructions from Jermyn and Endymion Porter to urge the officers to accept Goring as their lieutenant-general, and to be ready to march southwards in case of need.' On 8 April 1641 Chudleigh convened a meeting of officers at Boroughbridge. They drew up a letter to Goring, and Chudleigh brought it to London on the 6th, and finding that Goring was no longer there, he followed him to Portsmouth. On 13 Aug. 1641 the House of Commons examined Chudleigh in regard to the part he had acted as intermediary between Suckling and the troops in the first army plot (Gardiner, Hist. of England, ix. 314, 324, x. 2).
In the west of England he was successful as major-general of the parliament forces, and struck great terror into the Cornish royalist army in a night skirmish at Bradock Down near Okington. In May 1643, while the king's troops were at Launceston, few in number and very short of provisions, the Earl of Stamford, the parliament's general in the west, entered Cornwall with an army of seven thousand men. He posted himself at the top of a hill near Stratton. On the 16th Sir Ralph Hopton, who commanded for the king at Launceston, approached the hill and ordered an attack on the parliament forces at four several places. The latter, under the command of Chudleigh, were defeated after gallantly sustaining the charge for many hours. In this action the Earl of Stamford had only three hundred men killed, but he left seventeen hundred in the hands of the enemy. Among these was Chudleigh, who was conveyed to Oxford. Stamford openly complained that Chudleigh had betrayed him, and, turning against him in the heat of battle, charged him with the body of troops under his command. Clarendon states that this accusation was false, though he is constrained to admit that the fact of Chudleigh joining the king's cause ten days after he was taken prisoner gave some countenance to the reproach that was first most injuriously cast upon him.
In the royalist army he held the rank of colonel. On 30 Sept. 1643, in an action between the garrison of Dartmouth and the besiegers under General Fairfax, he received a musket shot which caused his death a few days afterwards. This, says Clarendon, was 'a wonderful loss to the king's service.'
