Chudleigh’s forebears were prominent members of the Devon gentry from the fourteenth century, when they acquired substantial lands near Exeter, including their main seat at Ashton. His grandfather was a Marian exile, and his father John, who represented Devon in the 1586 Parliament, distinguished himself in the Armada campaign.
Chudleigh received a thorough education, which included at least a short time at university. A claim that he went ‘abroad for the most exquisite breeding that age could yield’ may not indicate foreign travel in the modern sense, since he seems not to have undertaken a sea-voyage until 1626. However, ‘his demeanour was so courteous and obliging, and withall so discreet and prudent, that he lived in great esteem and reputation among his neighbours’.
Now a Devon magistrate, Chudleigh also began to exercise his powers of religious patronage, evidently influenced by his puritan father-in-law. He supported Strode’s foundation of a lectureship at Modbury in 1615, and appointed as minister at Jacobstowe a man who later became a lecturer at Okehampton.
In the 1621 Parliament Chudleigh sat for Lostwithiel, again by courtesy of Sir Reginald Mohun. Although nominated to only six legislative committees, he made 22 recorded speeches, and may have introduced the bill aimed at resolving the Mohun family dispute. After speaking in its favour on 17 May, he was named to the committee, but the bill subsequently failed to return to the House.
Chudleigh’s anti-Catholic bias surfaced several times. On 24 Feb. he reported a recusant for assaulting the MP Edward Leech, who had objected to the man’s presence in London while Parliament was meeting. During the inquiry into the Catholic Edward Floyd, he demanded that the latter’s papers should be handed over to the king, though he apparently remained silent while other Members competed to propose exemplary punishments. Surprisingly, on 28 Nov. he opposed his father-in-law’s proposal that Catholics should make the largest subsidy payments. The money was needed for the relief of the Palatinate, but Chudleigh ‘would not have the papists honoured so much as to pay anything towards this business’, instead arguing that ‘the better sort’ should pay double.
Now sitting in his third Parliament, Chudleigh displayed firm views on procedure and the dignity of the House. He called for harsh action against Sir John Leedes, who had breached protocol by entering the Commons before swearing the obligatory oaths (10 Feb.), and argued that it would be inappropriate for Thomas Sheppard to come to the bar of the House except to receive punishment (16 February). However, he showed confusion about parliamentary judicature on 16 Mar., suggesting that Members who gave evidence during Mompesson’s impeachment would be acting as both accusers and judges.
In the 1624 parliamentary elections, Chudleigh was finally returned for a Devon borough, although it seems likely that he again relied for his Tiverton seat on Sir Reginald Mohun’s influence. He presumably also arranged his brother-in-law John Chichester’s nomination for the Mohun-controlled seat at Lostwithiel.
As in 1621, the Mohun family’s affairs formed one of Chudleigh’s principal concerns in Parliament. Having resolved their differences, they now wished to have the agreed settlement embodied in statute. Although John Mohun was himself now in the Commons, the more experienced Chudleigh was apparently entrusted with steering the bill’s passage. That some rancour remained is suggested by the manner in which he rushed to contradict a statement by Mohun about the Chippenham election dispute (12 March). Chudleigh moved unsuccessfully for the bill to be engrossed immediately on 16 Mar. when it received its second reading, and probably chaired the committee, since he reported the bill on 5th Apr. and again on 14 Apr., after doubts about certain clauses had led to a recommittal.
Chudleigh continued to pursue matters of parliamentary procedure, requesting a search for precedents when Sir Guy Palmes proposed that bills still in progress at the adjournment should be put on hold until after the recess, instead of being lost (29 April). When the attack on lord treasurer Middlesex (Sir Lionel Cranfield*) commenced on 5 Apr., his principal concern was to protect potential witnesses, so that the truth of the allegations might be established.
Although Parliament met three more times during this decade, Chudleigh took no further part in its proceedings. Though returned at Lostwithiel in 1625, doubtless as Sir Reginald Mohun’s nominee, an unresolved election dispute prevented him from taking his seat. Early in 1626 Mohun offered him a place at East Looe, but he decided to allow his son John a taste of the Commons instead. By 1628 he was probably too preoccupied with local administration to consider standing himself, though he may have helped his brother to obtain a burgess-ship at Lostwithiel.
In July 1626 Chudleigh was described as ‘well-affected’ to the duke of Buckingham, but he preferred to cultivate one of the favourite’s lieutenants, secretary of state (Sir) John Coke*, patron to his brother Sir John since 1623. In December 1625 Chudleigh thanked Coke for protecting him from the burden of the shrievalty. In the following February, when it appeared that Coke might experience difficulty in finding a Commons’ seat, Chudleigh ostentatiously offered him the East Looe burgess-ship which he had reserved for his son, and kept the place open until it was clear that Coke had no use for it.
During the later 1620s most military campaigns were launched from the West Country, and the burden of managing the impressment and billeting of soldiers and sailors fell heavily on the local gentry. Initially Chudleigh was happy to co-operate, but the government failed to finance these operations adequately. By July 1626 the money had dried up completely, and Chudleigh personally delivered an ultimatum to the Privy Council that he and his fellow billeting commissioners would abandon their duties unless urgent steps were taken. His ‘rude and untractable behaviour at the Council board’ had the desired effect. The remaining troops were relocated, emergency funding was assigned out of the Crown’s tin revenues, and Chudleigh was appointed treasurer and paymaster.
Chudleigh maintained his contacts with Coke at least into the late 1630s, but his fundamental doubts about arbitrary taxation remained, and in 1634 he reportedly drafted a letter to the Privy Council in which leading Devon gentlemen backed local complaints against Ship Money. Summoned to London, he apparently escaped with a reprimand.
Chudleigh drew up his will on 22 Sept. 1655, expressing his assurance of eternal life. He requested a simple burial near his wife’s grave, without ceremony, excessive show of mourning, or even a sermon. As he had already disposed of most of his property among his surviving children, the will mainly contained small bequests to his friends.