A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE LUDLOW FAMILY
HISTORY
Robin Ludlow
October 2003
E-mail:
robin.ludlow@btinternet.com
Ludlow website: http://www.ludlowgenealogy.org
Link to download a Microsoft Word Version of this short
history
The first Ludlow I have found was alive
in 1150 and was living in Shrewsbury. Other Ludlows are mentioned
but not in any great detail until 1250 or thereabouts when Nicholas
de Ludlow, wool merchant to Edward, son of Henry II, and later
Edward I is mentioned frequently and acknowledged at the time
as the richest wool merchant in England. His son, Laurence de
Ludlow, the King's wool merchant and builder of Stokesay Castle,
was declared even wealthier than his father.
DNA testing indicates that those who
subsequently named themselves 'de Ludlow' were of Celtic origin,
dating back some 9,000 years (Welsh Marches). It is not known
how the family started (the name Ludlow was not mentioned in the
Domesday Book). After the Norman conquest, Walter de Lacy, of
Lassy in Normandy, was granted land and estates in the west of
England, including what is now Stanton Lacy, Salop, an estate
on which Ludlow castle and the town were subsequently built. The
castle building is thought to have been started around 1090 and
would have taken several years to complete.
It would have been around this time
that the castle and small town were named Ludlow. The construction
of the castle would have been managed by someone other than the
owner, Lacy, and I believe that that is where the Ludlow family
begins, although I have no factual evidence. The first member
of the family was probably known only by one name, John, perhaps
and he might have been appointed steward of the castle building
programme and manager of the Lacy family affairs in their absence.
A steward's appointment gave the appointee an opportunity to accumulate
wealth and, once the building was completed, John could have moved
to Shrewsbury, called himself John de Ludlow, and used his newly-found
management skills to prosper as a free enterprise businessman
in the wool trade.
Nicholas de Ludlow of Shrewsbury (where
the headquarters of the family business was located) had three
sons, Laurence, John and Thomas (all three are mentioned at the
top of the Stokesay pedigree). Laurence purchased Stokesay; he
fortified it and today the castle is known as the finest example
of an early English medieval moated and fortified manor house.
Apart from being international, Laurence also managed the family
wool business in Ludlow. Laurence de Ludlow qualified for knighthood.
The Ludlow family possessed Stokesay, Salop, for 217 years (nine
generations) from 1281-1498 and, during this period, nine Ludlows
were made Knights of the Shire and four members of the family
were appointed Sheriffs of Shropshire twelve times.
The Ludlows were an established Shropshire
family; wealthy, property and landowning, and influential in the
county as well as at Court. Many Ludlows fought for King and Country
against the French, the Scots and the Welsh. Some died, others
were wounded and some taken prisoner by the French. As there was
no organised withdrawal or repatriation from the theatre of war
many made their own way home. It took months or even years to
make the journey, sometimes to find that their families had presumed
them dead and their properties had been sold. Many became Justices
of the Peace, Members of Parliament, Commissioners, Oyers and
Terminors, and County Easchetors.
The Stokesay Ludlows owned many other
properties, including Hodnet and Westbury, where there were dwelling
houses which were not on the scale of Stokesay but nevertheless
quite large, so the family were usually spread between them. In
about 1450 a branch of the Stokesay family moved into the More
House (now called More Hall) at Shipton in the Corvedale valley.
The family lived at Shipton for many years and the branch flourished.
I will shortly be working on this part of the pedigree because
it will take us into the 19th century. I will then, hopefully
and with the help of the late Keith Ludlow's list, pick up some
descendants of this branch alive today. I shall then encourage
a male Ludlow to take a DNA test and then we will know whether
all three published pedigrees are a DNA match. There is a small
memorial in the Shipton Church to a Laurence Ludlow and his ten
children.
The Ludlows that did not inherit Stokesay
- and there were many - went into the church and the army (there
were continuous wars in the British Isles and France and crusades
to the East). Others sought their fortunes in London and Bristol,
or in trade.
One very popular way of getting on in the world in those days
was to seek a position in one of the great households, the Royal
Household being the most selective and the most sought after.
In the early part of the 14th century
Ludlow Hall was established at Oxford and this was probably financed
by the Ludlow family wool trade. Two centuries later it was amalgamated
with University College (William de Ludlow was Chancellor of Oxford
University in 1255).
Thomas Ludlow was Abbot of Battle Abbey,
Sussex, from 1417-1434 and another Thomas Ludlow was Abbot of
Shrewsbury Abbey, Salop from 1433-1459; he died in office. John
Ludlow was appointed abbot of Haughmond Abbey, Salop, in 1464.
Several Stokesay Ludlows were killed
during heated confrontations, including William de Ludlow in 1340,
his elder brother Sir Laurence de Ludlow, in Ludlow, in 1353,
and Sir Laurence's second son, William de Ludlow, in 1381. Several
Ludlows misbehaved and several were outlawed.
Nicholas de Ludlow's second son, John,
(see Stokesay pedigree) was also a wool merchant and he set up
a subsidiary of the family business in Chipping Campden, Glos.
Like his brother, Laurence, John was also involved in the wool
trade in Europe. The brothers were hugely successful but both
were drowned off the coast of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, in 1294, when
the King's wool fleet - heading for Bruges and commanded by Laurence
de Ludlow - was hit by a great storm in which many ships and their
crews were lost. Laurence de Ludlow's body was recovered and was
buried at Ludlow. John also qualified for knighthood.
John de Ludlow's heir, Bogo de Ludlow,
inherited the Chipping Campden estate which continued to flourish
for several generations. John had married Isabel, the widow of
Richard Borrey, a Shrewsbury wool merchant. Isabel had had two
or three sons by Richard Borrey. After John's death, Isabel left
Chippping Campden to her son by John, Bogo de Ludlow. She then
returned to Shrewsbury and her Borrey sons, changing her name
back to Borrey and becoming a very influential and wealthy woman
in her own right. She entertained Edward II when he visited Shrewsbury.
Some time later there was a dispute
in Shrewsbury between the Ludlows and the Borreys, probably over
an inheritance, and a Borrey son murdered his stepbrother, Bogo
de Ludlow.
Ludlows continued to own property in
Chipping Campden until 1426 when it passed, through the marriage
of the heiress Margaret Ludlow to Sir Baldwin Strange.
Nicholas de Ludlow's third son, Thomas,
was also in the wool trade and established a trading station in
the Lincolnshire wolds. He married Joan, co-heiress of Philip
Marmion and, through this marriage, acquired the manor of Shrivelsby,
Lincs. On Philip Marmion's death, Thomas also inherited the title
of King's Champion. This title subsequently passed (by the marriage
of Thomas de Ludlow's only daughter and sole heiress) to the Dymock
family, who have held the title to the present day. Thomas de
Ludlow was knighted (Knight of the Bath) by Edward II in 1306
and also qualified for knighthood in Surrey, where he held several
properties in Mitcham and Weybridge.
William Ludlow (1410-1478) founded
the Hill Deverill branch of the Ludlow family in 1438 when he
acquired the manor of Hill Deverill, Wilts. Before his move to
Wiltshire he was very involved in the wool and cloth industry
in London and Middlesex. He was a member of the Royal Household
and served Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI. He was a King's Serjeant
(the rank falls between a knight and an esquire). He was a Yeoman
of the Cellar for 20 years, along with Richard Ludlow, who was
Serjeant of the Cellar. William married Margaret, daughter and
heiress of William Rymer of Ringwood, Hants. Margaret's maternal
grandfather was William Warmwell. He was MP for Salisbury, very
influential and wealthy. The Warmwell influence helped William
Ludlow into politics - William became MP for Ludgershall, Wilts,
and subsequently MP for Salisbury. He was also Gauger in London
(1437-50) and Gauger in Hull (1443-50) to mention just a few of
his appointments. He was never Butler to three Kings but was 'bouteiller',
the French for the official in charge of wines. He was sometimes
described as a Serjeant of the cellar but more often as Yeoman.
This role kept him busy as he and a few others were responsible
for the purchase and storage of wines and ales. Drinking water
was unsafe at this time and, with the Court numbering many hundreds
and only drinking wine and ale, the consumption was enormous and
the logistics a major responsibility as the Monarch travelled
continuously.
William held considerable property
in Salisbury - he built the Blue Boar inn with timber felled from
his woods in Hill Deverill. He also had other land in Wiltshire
as well as in Berkshire, Sussex and Southamptonshire. He was frequently
in London and, on these visits, lived in a substantial house in
the City. He spent more time in London and Salisbury than he did
at Hill Deverill and financially supported St Thomas' church in
Salisbury, where he and his wife Margaret were buried. A large
marble tomb was erected in their memory but this was broken up
when the church was restored in the 19th century. Church records
disclose that his family Arms and the Lion rampant of the Ludlows
of Shropshire adorned the walls of the tomb. William's daughter
Margaret married Thomas Tropenell, the owner of the manor of East
Chalfield, Wilts. The Public Record Office at Kew has lost an
IPM that indicated that William Ludlow was descended from a Ludlow
of Chipping Campden, Glos.
The Ludlows of Hill Deverill continued
to be influential and to prosper. Several were appointed High
Sheriffs of Wiltshire: George (1568), Sir Edmund MP (1586), Sir
Henry MP (1633), Edmund Ludlow MP (1645). Two Shipton Moyne Ludlows
who lived at Heywood House, Westbury, Wilts: Abraham (1810), and
Henry (1850) were also appointed in their time.
Sir Edmund Ludlow was MP for Hindon,
Wilts, in 1603, and his son, Sir Henry Ludlow was MP for Wiltshire
(1640). His (Henry's) son, Edmund Ludlow, Parliamentarian and
Regicide, was MP for Wilts in 1642. Edmund Ludlow signed Charles
I's death warrant and was Commander of the forces in Ireland (Lieutenant
General of Horse). Several members of the family went to Ireland
with Edmund and founded the Irish branch of the family. They were
the ancestors of the Earls Ludlow (an Irish peerage). Several
other Ludlows served the Cromwellian cause and lost their lives.
Roger Ludlow went to America and became
a substantial landowner and Deputy Governor of Massachusetts and
Connecticut (1660).
Philip Ludlow, Edmund's brother, died
at sea while in command of a fleet of ships returning from South
America. His body was recovered and buried in Westminster Abbey
(tomb visible).
Gabriel Ludlow (1634) also went to
America and helped to found the American branch of the family.
The Hill Deverill branch of the family multiplied and they moved
to Southampton, London, Bristol, Surrey, Berks, Bucks, Kent and
Essex. Descendants of this branch are still to be discovered.
Stephen Ludlow of Shipton Moyne, Glos,
circa 1500, was the fourth son of an unknown Ludlow. The family
flourished and expanded into Somerset, Wiltshire, Worcestershire,
Warwickshire, Staffordshire, London, Birmingham and Bristol. To
start with, the family remained closely associated with agriculture
but as time moved on various trades were learned and several became
professionals: doctors, surgeons, barristers, soldiers, sailors,
brewers and businessmen. This branch of the family continues to
flourish and provides the drive behind the current research into
each branch of the family at every level.
Ninety Ludlows are recorded by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission as having lost their lives
in the two World Wars.
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