Author: Dudley, Howard
Biography:
DUDLEY, Howard (1820-64: ODNB)
He was born on 15 Mar. 1820 and baptised on 19 May at St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, London, the only son and youngest of four children of George Dudley, an Irish-born Quaker merchant, and his wife Sarah Cove, who had married in London in 1813. His father died when he was seven and his mother moved to Easebourne, near Midhurst, Sussex, and brought up her two surviving daughters, Juliet de Lisle and Mary Elizabeth, and her only son, Howard. He took an early interest in antiquities and taught himself engraving. At fourteen he set up a small printing press and produced the volume listed here which he dedicated to his mother. It contained 44 fairly basic but charming woodcuts to accompany the poems he wrote and those of his sister Mary Elizabeth (q.v.). The volume met with some success and he began a career as a wood engraver, publishing another similar work, The History and Antiquities of Horsham (1836). From about 1837 he lived and worked in Millbank, Westminster. From 1842 to 1859 he lived and worked in Edinburgh and married Jane Ellen Young on 1 Dec. 1849 at St. Cuthbert’s. There was no issue. By 1861 they had moved to the Clerkenwell area of London, already well known for its engravers and printers. He died on 4 July 1864 at Holford Square, Pentonville, London. His wife continued his engraving business with her brothers Charles and Alexander, who were also engravers. (ODNB 5 Dec. 2022; ancestry.co.uk 5 Dec. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 5 Dec. 2022; GM Jan. 1865, 101-2) AA