John Crews DUDLEY (1809–1874)
His first wife Mrs Elizabeth DUDLEY, née Stevens (1808–1850)
His second wife Mrs Selina Ives DUDLEY, née Powell (1827–1864)
St Michael section: Row 12, Grave C44
ELIZABETH WIFE OF
JOHN CREWS DUDLEY
DIED MARCH 3 1830 [error for 1850]
AGED 42 YEARS
ALSO
SELINA IVES WIFE OF
JOHN CREWS DUDLEY
DIED OCTR 31 1864
AGED 37 YEARS
ALSO
JOHN CREWS DUDLEY
DIED FEBY 8 1874
AGED 64 YEARS
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J
John Crews Dudley was a solicitor and attorney in Broad Street, and later a Magistrate of the County Court. He served as Mayor of Oxford in 1852/3
His father Crews Dudley had also been a solicitor on the same premises from before 1823, and after John qualified the firm became Crews Dudley & Son. John ran the family firm from 1846 until his death
John Crews Dudley was born in St Peter-in-the East parish, Oxford on 20 June 1809. He was the son of Crews Dudley (born in Bicester in 1781, the son of Samuel & Ann Dudley) and Jane Castell, were married at St John the Baptist Church in Oxford on 20 November 1805: both of his parents were living in Oxford at the time of their marriage: his father in St Peter-in-the-East parish and his mother in St John’s parish. His parents had the following children:
- Jane Castell Dudley (born in 1806 and baptised at St Peter-in-the-East Church, Oxford on 14 November)
- John Crews Dudley (born on 20 June 1809 and baptised at St Peter-in-the East Church, Oxford on 18 July)
- Samuel Dudley (born on 2 August 1812 and baptised at St Peter-in-the East Church, Oxford on 26 August).
Soon after John’s birth the family moved to 6 Broad Street, where Crews Dudley practised as a solicitor: he was involved in the speculative development of Summertown in the 1820s, and also served on the council, rising to the position of Bailiff.
John Crews Dudley followed his father into practice as a solicitor, while his younger brother Samuel went up to Jesus College, Oxford.
On 23 July 1839 at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, John Crews Dudley married his first wife Elizabeth Stevens of Beaufort House, Chelsea, the eldest daughter of the merchant William Stevens. They had the following children:
- Elizabeth Jane Crews Dudley (born at 28 St John Street, Oxford in 1841/2 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 27 April 1842)
- Martha Trimmer Dudley (born at 28 St John Street, Oxford in 1843 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 6 October)
- Althea Elizabeth Dudley (born at 28 St John Street, Oxford in 1845 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 24 September)
- Crews Dudley (born at 28 St John Street, Oxford in 1846 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 4 May 1847)
- George Dennis Darville Dudley (born at 7 Broad Street, Oxford in 1849 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 14 October).
Initially the couple lived at 28 St John Street in St Giles’s parish. The 1841 census shows John (30), a solicitor and his wife at that address with one servant.
John Crews Dudley’s father Crews Dudley died on 19 December 1846 (after forty years in practice), and he was probably buried in a family grave at St Michael’s Church. John took over his father’s practice and moved his family moved into 6 Broad Street, in St Michael’s parish. (His older sister Jane had died unmarried at North Leigh in 1846, and his younger brother Samuel had been ordained and was not interested in the legal practice.)
John’s first wife Elizabeth Dudley died in 1850 when her fifth child was still a baby:
† Mrs Elizabeth Dudley née Stevens died at 7 Broad Street at the age of 42 or 44 on 3 March 1850 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 March (burial recorded in parish register of St Michael’s Church).
Three weeks later John’s mother Jane Dudley, who was still living in St Giles’s parish, died at the age of 77 and was buried on 5 April 1850, probably at St Michael’s Church with her husband.
The 1851 census shows John Crews Dudley (40), attorney and solicitor, living at 7 Broad Street with his children Elizabeth (9), Martha (7), Althea (5), Crews (4), and George (1). The family had four servants (a cook, governess, nursemaid, and general servant).
John Crews Dudley served as Mayor of Oxford for 1852/3.
In 1861 John (50) was living at 6/7 Broad Street. No. 7 was now in fact the County Court office (where he served as a magistrate), and although they may have occupied some of this house, his real residence was No. 6 (right). He was still a widower with his five children living at home, and an Alderman of the City of Oxford. All the children were still at school except Elizabeth (19) who doubtless looked after the house with the help of three servants (a male servant out of livery, a cook, and a housemaid).
On 8 August 1861 at Stoke Newington, Middlesex, John Crews Dudley was married to his second wife, Selina Ives Powell by his brother, the Revd Samuel Dudley. Selina, who was born in Easthorpe, Essex, was only 34 at the time of the marriage, was the daughter of the late John Powell, Esq., who had been a farmer. John's brother his brother, the Revd Samuel Dudley, conducted the ceremony.
At the time of the 1861 census Selina (32), described as a landowner, had been the companion of her widowed aunt Mrs Julia Dudley (71) at Nelson Terrace, Stoke Newington. Her husband, the merchant William Dudley, had been born in Bicester, so doubtless was a relation of John Crews Dudley.
Less that three years after their marriage, John Crews Dudley’s second wife died, and was buried in the same grave as his first wife:
† Mrs Selina Ives Dudley née Powell died at 6/7 Broad Street at the age of 37 on 31 October 1864, and was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 4 November (burial recorded in parish register of St Michael’s Church).
His daughter Althaea was married in 1868:
- On 14 April 1868 at St Michael's Church, Althea Elizabeth Dudley (22) married the Revd Henry Elwell (23) of Blackburn.
At the time of the 1871 census, John Crews Dudley was living at 6/7 Broad Street with three of his children: George (21), who was now an articled clerk; Elizabeth (29); and Martha (27), plus their two servants. His unmarried son Crews (21) was an articled clerk to a solicitor lodging at 61 Denmark Road, Northampton with an accountant’s clerk and his wife
Three years after that census, Dudley himself died:
† John Crews Dudley died at 6 Broad Street on 8 February 1874 at the age of 64, and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 February with his two wives (burial recorded in parish register of St Michael’s Church).
His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 14 February 1874 read simply: “Feb. 8, at No. 6 Broad-street, Oxford, John Crews Dudley, Esq., aged 64.”
His effects came to under £10,000, and his executors were his son Crews and daughter Elizabeth.
Children of John Crews Dudley and his first wife Elizabeth
- Elizabeth Jane Crews Dudley (born 1841/2): see separate grave
- Martha Trimmer Dudley (born 1843) initially lived with her older sister Elizabeth in Oxford, but by 1891 was living at 11 Cross Street, Hastings. She died in Hastings at the age of 66 in 1909.
- Althea Elizabeth Dudley, Mrs Elwell (born 1845) and her husband Henry Elwell had eight sons. In 1891 she was living at Harlow Common in 1891 with Henry and six of their sons: Henry Edward Elwell (22), who was a student of theology, and John (12), Charles (11), Herbert (9), William (5), and Walter (2), plus a governess, cook, housemaid, and nurse. They were still in Harlow in 1901 with four of their children. Althea Elizabeth Dudley died on 13 March 1906 and was buried in Harlow at St Mary Magdalene churchyard.
- Crews Dudley (born 1846): see separate grave
- George Dennis Darville Dudley (born 1849): see separate grave
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