Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/504

486 DUDLEY 29 Apr. 1762, and was bur. there, aged 48, her death being announced in Gent. Mag. as " The Right Hon. Anne Smithy Baroness Dudley, wife of William Smith, of Ridgacre, Shropshire, Esq." Ferdinando Smith, her 2nd but only surv. s. and h. (who sue. to the Halesowen estate on the death, s.p., of his br., Harry Grey Smith, 21 Mar. 1760), does not appear to have assumed the title, though it was attributed to him in one of the editions of Collins' Peerage. He was bur. 1 3 Jan. 1 794/S,C) leaving issue. DUDLEY DUKEDOM. Alice Leigh, 2nd da. of Sir Thomas Leigh, ist Bart., of Stoneleigh, by Katherine, da. of Sir John Spencer, of L 1644 Wormleighton, m., about 1596 (before 25 Sep. 1597), as to his 2nd wife, at Plymouth, the versatile Sir Robert 1669. Dudley, the " so-called base son'^*") of Robert, Earl of Leicester, by Douglas, widow of John (Sheffield), 2nd Baron Sheffield, da. of William (Howard), Baron Howard of Effing- ham, by his 2nd wife, Margaret, da. of Sir Thomas Gamage. About this time Sir Robert tried to establish his legitimacy and his right to his ancestral titles, but in May 1605 the Star Chamber pronounced against him. He left England for Florence July following, and contracted a (so-called) marriage abroad with Elizabeth Southwell, on the ground that having seduced Alice Leigh in the lifetime of a former wife the subsequent marriage with her was invalid.^) By diploma of the Emperor of Germany, 9 Mar. 1620, he was cr. Duke of Northumberland, (s'c. See fuller particulars sub that title. His (*) In 1914 a petition was presented by Ferdinando Dudley William Lea Smith, praying for the determination of the abeyance existing in the Barony of Dudley in his favour, and on 31 Mar. 1 9 14 the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords reported that the Barony of Dudley is an ancient Barony in fee, is in abeyance, and at his Majesty's disposal. On 20 Mar. 19 16 it was announced in the press that "The King has been pleased to give directions to call the Barony of Dudley out of abeyance in favour of Lieut. Col. Ferdinando Dudley William Lea Smith," who, on receiving his writ of summons and taking his seat, will become 1 2th Baron Dudley. He was b. 4 Apr. 1872, and is s. and h. of Ferdinando Dudley Lea Smith, High Sheriff for CO. Worcester in i860 {d. 8 Feb. 1905), by Amy Sophia Leigh, which Ferdinando was s. of Lieut. Col. Ferdinando Smith (d. 20 July 1841), by Elizabeth Grazebrook, this Ferdinando being s. of Ferdinando Smith {hur. 13 Jan. 1794/5), by Elizabeth Lyttleton, which last-named Ferdinando was 2nd but only surv. s. and h. of Anne, eldest sister and coh. of the nth Lord Dudley. V.G. {^) Dugdale, vol. ii, p. 222. See also note sub Leicester, where the question of his legitimacy is discussed. (') He appears also to have alleged that his first and second marriages were invalid because he was pre-contracted in 1 591 with Frances Vavasour, who was alive at the dates of these marriages though dead before his alleged marriage with Elizabeth Southwell. V.G.