page_title: James Chudleigh
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: James Chudleigh / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Locator map of Western England
context_page_description: Colonel James Chudleigh was an English military officer, who served in the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War. Initially appointed to command the Parliamentary garrison at Barnstaple, he showed considerable ability, and was quickly promoted.
  Wounded and captured after the Royalist victory at the Battle of Stratton in May 1643, he changed sides, possibly as a result of being accused of responsibility for the defeat. His father, Sir George Chudleigh, also a Parliamentary commander, switched sides at the same time.
  On 30 September 1643, Chudleigh was wounded in a Royalist attack on Dartmouth, where he died on 6 October.
context_section_description: Details of Chudleigh's early life are limited, other than he reportedly served in Ireland. In 1640, he was Captain in the Earl of Northumberland’s regiment, part of the army raised for the Bishops Wars. He became involved in the 1641 Army Plots, an alleged conspiracy to seize London, release the Earl of Strafford, and dissolve the Long Parliament. Along with Lord Goring, governor of Portsmouth, and Northumberland's younger brother Henry, he was investigated by Parliament, but appears to have served as a courier, and was released without charge.
  When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, Chudleigh apparently tried to join the Royalists, but was rejected on the grounds his father and uncle were ‘notoriously disaffected to the King’. Instead, Parliament authorised him to raise "1,000 dragoons...in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall", which he used to garrison Barnstaple in north Devon. During this period, he supervised construction of Chudleigh Fort, near Bideford. 
  The Earl of Stamford, Parliamentary commander in the West Country, appointed Chudleigh his deputy, although he later claimed he had been ordered to do so. Chudleigh was one of the few who performed well in their defeat at Braddock Down in January 1643. On 21 February, he led an attack that captured Modbury, a village held by the Royalists for the siege of Plymouth. 
  On 28 February, the two sides agreed a local truce, which ended on 22 April. In anticipation, Chudleigh assembled 1,700 troops at Lifton, near Launceston, where Hopton had concentrated over 3,600 men. He attacked the next day, but the Royalists quickly recovered; faced by superior numbers, the Parliamentary force withdrew to Okehampton; supported by John Merrick's "Greycoats", Chudleigh covered the retreat, reportedly taking personal control of saving the artillery. 
  On 25 April, the Royalist leader Sir Ralph Hopton marched on Sourton Down, intending to stop there for the night, and attack Okehampton at dawn. At 9:00 pm, Chudleigh learned the enemy was only two miles (3 km) away, and also discovered his artillery transport had been taken to Crediton. Since retreat meant abandoning his guns, he ambushed the Royalists with only 100 cavalry; at night, and in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, they panicked and broke. 
  Although not present at  Sourton Down, Stamford was given credit for the victory, a rare piece of good news for Parliament in the west. Using intelligence captured there, he marched into Cornwall with 5,400 men, first sending his cavalry under Sir George Chudleigh on a diversionary raid against Bodmin. 
  Despite being outnumbered, Hopton won a decisive victory at Stratton on 16 May, which ensured Royalist control of Devon. Defeat was a combination of factors, including the outstanding courage of the Cornish infantry, and absence of the Parliamentary cavalry. The last was an unwise counter-attack by Chudleigh; initially successful, it exposed the Parliamentary centre to a flanking attack. Efforts to stop the collapse failed; the Parliamentarians lost 300 casualties, and 1,700 prisoners, including Chudleigh.
  Taken to the Royalist capital in Oxford, Chudleigh switched sides; his reasons were set out in a Royalist propaganda pamphlet, published under his name. This reflected his importance to the Parliamentary cause in Devon; shortly before Stratton, he published a similar attack on the Royalists. In his 'History of the Rebellion', the Earl of Clarendon, then a senior Royalist advisor, claimed he fought bravely until captured, and changed sides as a matter of conscience.  
  Stamford escaped to Exeter, where Sir George was governor; the city surrendered in early September to Prince Maurice, whose army now included Colonel James Chudleigh. The garrison was given a pass to the nearest friendly territory, and Stamford returned to London. On arrival, he claimed his defeat was due to Chudleigh deserting during the battle, which varies from other reports he was captured only after being wounded. Stamford never held command again, suggesting he was held responsible.
  Sir George resigned his com
caption: War in the West, 1642 to 1643
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