Dud Dudley

Born in 1599 to Lord Dudley, Edward Sutton III by his “concubine” Elizabeth Tomlinson.  Dud Dudley came to manage his father’s iron works and developed a method for smelting iron using sea coal.  This was an important development in a time when timber for the charcoal used in smelting was in short supply.  He was beset by problems however, facing natural disaster with the great May Day flood destroying one venture, lawsuits from charcoal using iron masters, and riotous mobs.  In the civil war he fought with the royalists achieving the rank of Colonel.  He was captured and sentenced to death but escaped on the eve of his execution.  He continued in his ventures until old age but never achieved widespread success.  He died in 1684 leaving no offspring.  In 1665 he wrote Mettallum Martis which set out the “trials and sufferings” he endured in his ventures. He did not record his secrets however.