Thomas Rudyard (1640 – buried 2 November 1692) was a Quaker lawyer in London before moving to America and being appointed deputy governor of East Jersey and the first Attorney General of the English Province of New York, the predecessor position to the Attorney General of New York State and the successor position to an analogous office under the Dutch colonial government of New Netherlands.
[4] He was appointed Deputy Governor of East New Jersey, as well as Secretary and Chief Register, from November 1682 until February 1684, when he removed to Pennsylvania.
Rudyard disagreed with this policy and he and the Council appointed Philip Wells as Deputy Surveyor, thereby circumventing Groom's authority.
Rudyard and the Council replied that they would continue granting land as they had been doing, as the majority of Proprietors were not living in East Jersey.
[8] Thomas Rudyard's land dealings resurfaced when, on 28 February 1684/5, he received a grant of 1,038 acres (420.065 ha) on Raritan Bay in Monmouth County.