James Chudleigh

Major-General James Chudleigh (c.1618–1643) was a military officer during the first period of the English Civil War. He participated in several battles in South-West England, initially on the Parliamentarian side. He defected to the Royalist party after his capture at the Battle of Stratton.

Life
Chudleigh was a younger son of an ancient Devon landowning family, the Chudleighs of Ashton. His father, Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet, had some open grievances against the King and fought for Parliament as a cavalry commander, while the zealous Parliamentarian William Strode was his maternal uncle. Prior to the outbreak of war in England, he had served as an officer in the royal army in Ireland.

Chudleigh's record in early actions showed that he had considerable ability as a commander. He played an important role in the night skirmishes around Braddock Down, and on 21 February 1643 won a sharp engagement against Slanning and Trevanion at Modbury. Aged just 25, he took over command from Stamford during Parliament's attempt on Launceston on 23 April 1643, but was driven back after Royalist reinforcements arrived. Chudleigh then covered the retreat with Merrick's unit of London "Greycoats", supposedly personally harnessing the teams of oxen to save the Parliamentarian artillery. At the Battle of Sourton Down on 25 April, his ambush of Hopton's troops was instrumental in securing the Royalist defeat.

At Stratton, however, Chudleigh was abandoned by his commander Stamford, who fled without exposing himself to danger. Chudleigh led his pikemen in a charge against Grenville's regiment, but a counter-attack resulted in his capture, with a head wound and a broken halberd: he was taken to Oxford subsequent to the battle. Parliament did not offer to exchange him, and Stamford accused him of treachery, after which he agreed to join the Royalist army. His reasons for doing so were published in a pamphlet, Serjeant Major (sic) James Chudleigh, his declaration to his country-men.

His desertion to the Royalists was condemned by many, but Lord Clarendon, in a short biographical sketch, defended Chudleigh's character. He claimed that Chudleigh, rather than deserting at the height of the battle (as alleged by Stamford) had fought bravely and with distinction at Stratton until captured, and only afterwards agreed to serve the King as a matter of conscience: "he was of too good an understanding, and too much generosity in his nature, to be effected to the cause which he served, or to comply with those arts, which he saw practised to carry it on". Chudleigh had also been involved in the Army Plots of 1641 in common with many other future Royalist colonels - albeit mainly in the capacity of an "innocent courier" - and may have only appeared in Parliamentarian service as he was unable to secure a command in the King's army in 1642. Chudleigh's father was also subsequently to join the King's forces, along with another brother, Thomas.

While still in the service of Parliament, Chudleigh was responsible for constructing a fort near Bideford, now known as the Chudleigh Fort.

Death
In September 1643, Chudleigh seems to have been part of the defending garrison of Dartmouth when it was besieged by Fairfax. According to Clarendon, he was hit before the town by a musket-shot, on or around 30 September, and died a few days later. His burial record was found in the register of St Saviour's church, Dartmouth.