Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
Sir Lewis Stukeley, or Stucley, who has been branded as the Judas of
Devonshire, was the eldest son of John Stukeley, of Affeton, by Frances
St. Leger. He had two brothers and several sisters. He was great-nephew
to “Lusty” Stucley, and partook of that vein of meanness and treachery
that characterized Thomas. He was married to Frances daughter of
Anthony Monk, of Potheridge, a family which, if not more ancient, was
free from the taint of baseness that savoured three of the Stukeleys.
By her he had five sons; none were knighted, the shame of the father
rested on them, and it was not till the next generation that knighthood
was again granted to the representative of the Stukeleys, of Affeton.
Lewis himself was knighted, not for any worthiness that he had shown,
but as the representative of a good family, when James I was on his
way to London in 1603. In 1617 he was appointed guardian of Thomas
Rolfe, the infant son of Pocahontas by J. Rolfe. Then he was created
Vice-Admiral of Devon, and in that capacity he left London in June,
1618, with verbal orders from the King to arrest Sir Walter Raleigh,
then arrived at Plymouth on his return from the Orinoco. Sir Walter
had been released from his long captivity in the Tower, because he
gave hopes to James of finding a gold-mine in Guiana. He had been
there before, had brought away auriferous spar, and had heard tidings
of deposits of gold. James was in debt and in need of money, and he
clutched at the chance of getting out of his difficulties through the
gold of Guiana. That there was gold there is certain; Raleigh’s mine
has been identified; but since he had left the Orinoco, the Spaniards
had pushed up the river and annexed land and built stations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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