Theodosia Harington

Theodosia Harington, Lady Dudley (died 1649) was an English aristocrat who was abandoned by her husband, but maintained connections at court through her extensive family networks.

She was the eighth daughter of Sir James Harington of Exton, Rutland, a lawyer and long-serving MP, and Lucy Sidney of Penshurst.

According to a bill produced in the Star Chamber by his rival in Staffordshire, Gilbert Lyttelton,[3] in 1592 he had "left that virtuous lady his wife in London without sustenance, and took to his home a lewd and infamous woman, a base collier's daughter".

[4] In 1597 her son Ferdinando and daughter Anne were lodged in Clerkenwell as wards of her sister Elizabeth Harington and uncle Edward Montagu of Boughton.

[5] The Privy Council made arrangements for a settlement and payments but Lord Dudley refused to pay her, instead sending an installment of £30 for his debt of £240..[6] On 23 February 1600 Louis Verreycken an envoy from the Spanish Netherlands was received by Elizabeth I of England.

[10] Theodosia Harington seems to have been an important member of Princess Elizabeth's household and before their marriage in London, Frederick V of the Palatinate gave her a valuable gift of silver plate.

[14] In 1628 her friend William Mason of Westminster left her a legacy of £600, "as a pledge of my unfeigned heart, to her unstained honour, wishing every penny of it were a thousand pound".

[20] Further documents and charters relating to Theodosia Dudley's property are held by the National Library of Scotland in the Tweeddale papers.