Joseph Dudley | |
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Portrait believed to be of Dudley, by Sir Peter Lely
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President of the Council of New England | |
In office 25 May 1686 – 20 December 1686 |
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Preceded by | Simon Bradstreet (as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) |
Succeeded by | Sir Edmund Andros (as governor of the Dominion of New England) |
Member of Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight |
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In office 1701–1702 Serving with Thomas Hopsonn |
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Preceded by | James Worlsey |
Succeeded by | John Leigh |
Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay | |
In office 11 June 1702 – 4 February 1715 |
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Preceded by | Massachusetts Governor's Council (acting) |
Succeeded by | Massachusetts Governor's Council (acting) |
In office 21 March 1715 – 9 November 1715 |
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Preceded by | Massachusetts Governor's Council (acting) |
Succeeded by | William Tailer (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | 23 September 1647 Roxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
Died | 2 April 1720 Roxbury, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
(aged 72)
Relations | Father Thomas Dudley, son Paul Dudley |
Religion | Church of England |
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Joseph Dudley (23 September 1647 – 2 April 1720) was an English colonial administrator. A native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and the son of one of its founders, Dudley had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England (1686–1689), overthrown in the 1689 Boston revolt, and served briefly on the council of the Province of New York. In New York, he oversaw the trial that convicted Jacob Leisler, the ringleader of Leisler's Rebellion. He then spent eight years in England in the 1690s as Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, including one year as a Member of Parliament for Newtown, (Isle of Wight). In 1702 he returned to New England after being appointed governor of the provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, posts he held until 1715.
His rule of Massachusetts was characterized by hostility and tension, with political enemies opposing his attempts to gain a regular salary, and regularly making complaints about his official and private actions. Most of his tenure was dominated by Queen Anne's War, in which the two provinces were on the front lines with New France and suffered from a series of major and minor French and Indian raids. He orchestrated an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Acadian capital of Port Royal in 1707, raised provincial militia forces for its successful capture in 1710, and directed an unsuccessful expedition against Quebec in 1711.