John Scudamore (courtier)

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Sir John Scudamore, (1 February 1542 – 14 April 1623) as the eldest son of William Scudamore, but due to his father's early death was a ward of Sir James Croft of Croft Castle, Herefordshire, whose daughter Eleanor he married in 1563.

When James Croft became a Comptroller of the Household in 1570, Scudamore (though by then widowed) became a courtier. He became custos rotulorum in 1574, deputy lieutenant in 1575, high sheriff in 1581, and knight of the shire in the 1570s and 1580s.

His second wife, Mary Scudamore, daughter of Sir John Shelton of Norfolk and a member of the queen's privy chamber, was more important than he was because she had the queen's ear. Following Croft's death in 1590, his influence waned.

His heir was his son by his first marriage Sir James Scudamore, and his son was ennobled as John Scudamore, 1st Viscount Scudamore.

[edit] References

• Ian Atherton, ‘Scudamore family (per. 1500–1820)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 24 March 2008

Political offices
Preceded by Sir James Croft	Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire 1574–1616	Succeeded by Sir James Scudamore