John Scudamore

Who was John Scudamore?

Sir John Scudamore, was the eldest son of William Scudamore and Ursula Pakington, the daughter of Sir John Pakington, but due to his father's early death was a ward of Sir James Croft of Croft Castle, Herefordshire, whose daughter Eleanor Croft he had married by 1563.

When James Croft became a Comptroller of the Household in 1570, Scudamore became a courtier and was appointed Gentleman Usher to Queen Elizabeth and Standard Bearer to The Honourable Band of Gentleman Pensioners.

He became Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire in 1574, deputy lieutenant in 1575, High Sheriff of Herefordshire for 1581, and knight of the shire for Herefordshire in the 1570s and 1580s, serving for six terms. He was elected MP for Herefordshire in 1571, sitting continuously untl 1593 and again in 1597, sitting until 1601.

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 whose own son was ennobled as John Scudamore, 1st Viscount Scudamore.