REV JOHN DUDLEY

John Dudley was born in 1762, the eldest son of the Rev. John Dudley of Humberstone, Leicester. He was educated at Uppingham School and proceeded to Clare Hall, Cambridge where he gained honours in 1785. He was appointed to the living of Humberstone in 1794 and Sileby vicarage in 1795. Dudley also married Ann Kirkby in December 1794.

Dudley was a scholar and author of note and also a confidante to local writers Susannah Watts and Eleanor Sleath. Rumours about his relationship with Sleath caused scandal, dividing the gentry community in Leicester and forcing Dudley to flee Humberstone for the relative quietness of Sileby. The rumours did not desist which caused John and Ann to formally separate in 1811. Ann Dudley was buried on the 20th February 1823. Thirty nine days later, on 1st April, John Dudley and Eleanor Sleath were married at Loughborough.

In 1809 John became a Justice of the Peace, and emerged as a senior justice on the Loughborough bench. Dudley was known for his severe, and some might say harsh sentencing. This reputation brought him to the notice of the Home Secretary in 1845 after he sent a young servant girl to six weeks hard labour for not addressing him properly.

However, Dudley must be judged by the norms of the period and by his other works. These include:
- he built Dudley's Bridge in Sileby, at his own cost
- he lobbied for, and at some of his own cost, had Essex Bridge rebuilt
- he wrote sections for John Nichols' History of Leicestershire
- he wrote a number of scholarly books on religion, structures, India and Africa
- he became a newspaper proprietor
- he was a director of the Loughborough Bank
- he regularly spent large sums on feeding the poor and treating parish children.

John Dudley died at Sileby on the 7th January 1856, aged 94. He had been a JP for 47 years, vicar of Humberstone for 62 years and of Sileby for 61 years.