The first viscount's son James Scudamore (1624–1668) failed to follow in his father's pious footsteps. He was born on 26 June 1624 and went to St John's College, Oxford, from 1640 to 1641. He spent much of the 1650s either recklessly gambling away his fortune or fleeing his creditors. He diced his way across France where, it was said, he lived like a madman, a ‘monster’ whom ‘the suburbs of hell can scarse yield the like’, owing money to people ‘from the President to the Cobler’ (Atherton, 160). He escaped his victims and pursuers by travelling further east, first to Italy, then around the eastern Mediterranean, where his adventures over five years took him to the Egyptian pyramids, incarceration in a pest house on the island of Zante, and battles with Turks, Spaniards, Neapolitans, and pirates. His father, meanwhile, tried to repair the ruins of James's estate and, after he returned to England in 1661, sought to oversee his introduction to power, engineering his election as MP for Herefordshire that year. James may also have served with the fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Offices Held

J.p. Herefs. 1642-4, July 1660-d., commr. for assessment Aug. 1660-d., loyal and indigent officers 1662, dep. lt. 1662-d.2

Biography Scudamore’s ancestors had held land in Herefordshire since the 12th century, and were first returned to Parliament in the reign of Henry V. His father owed his peerage to the first Duke of Buckingham; a deeply religious man, he was much influenced by Archbishop Laud, and served as ambassador to France from 1635 to 1639. Lord Scudamore was a passive Royalist, compounding in 1648 for a £2,690 fine, but this represented only a tenth of his losses. Scudamore’s elder brothers died young. He himself, though captured with his father at Hereford in 1643, was also inactive in the Civil War. Gambling and other debts compelled him to spend most of the Interregnum abroad, and to make over his estate to trustees in 1657.3

Scudamore’s father enjoyed unrivalled prestige in Herefordshire at the Restoration, and as early as 11 Mar. 1661 Scudamore was assured of an unopposed return as knight of the shire. He refused the order of the Bath at the coronation on the grounds of expense. He was moderately active in the Cavalier Parliament. He acted as teller in four divisions and was named to 61 committees, including those for the execution of those under attainder and the petition of the loyal and indigent officers, and two for amending the Corporations Act. On 19 July 1661 a bill was introduced for annulling Scudamore’s conveyance of lands worth £250 p.a. to the father and uncle of John Dutton Colt as security for his debts of honour. (Sir) William Lowther reported from the committee on 26 Feb. 1662, and the bill passed the Lower House, but was rejected by the Lords. However, the case inspired the Gaming Act of 1665. Scudamore was reluctant to act without ‘Daddy’s advice’, but welcomed the second Dutch war as an opportunity to assuage his restlessness by serving with the fleet. Nevertheless he was conscientious in attending quarter sessions. He died in his father’s lifetime on 18 June 1668, and was buried at Holme Lacy.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: Edward Rowlands Notes 1. Add. 11044, f. 246. 2. Trans. Woolhope Club, xxxiv. 292. 3. C. J. Robinson, Mansions and Manors of Herefs. 139-40; J. R. Phillips, Civil War in Wales, ii. 70; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1643; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 193; Bodl. Rawl. A328, ff. 1-2; CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 243; Add. 15858, ff. 135-8; HLRO, Box 180. 4. Add. 11044, ff. 253-4; Add. 15858, f. 139; HMC 7th Rep. 161-2; SP29/91/42; CSP Dom. 1664-5, pp. 200, 222; 1665-6, p. 458; Herefs. RO, QS Recs. 1665-89, passim.