the boundary between Gornal and Himley. Debts continued to grow, and by 1593 the estate had been sequestrated. The ironworks were essential because the family's debts were already so large that Lord Edward's father's will had earmarked all the proceeds of his ironworks for 21 years to pay creditors, who were given precedence over his widow and younger children. Money issues soured relations with John, Edward Sutton's younger brother. John had been compensated for his exclusion from a portion of his father's estate by the promise of an annuity from his brother, which Edward never paid. The electoral fraud of 1597 might have helped John establish new contacts and income streams, but the parliament lasted little more than three months and the scandal made any further parliamentary career impossible for him. Always short of money, Edward Sutton fought numerous battles to maintain his inheritance and income, many of them through violence. His most bitter feud was with Gilbert Lyttelton, centred on the farm of Prestwood, near Kinver, and reached its height in the 1590s. Prestwood is at the confluence of the River Smestow and the Worcestershire Stour. Sutton had Lyttelton ejected by force. He then claimed the right to seize outlaws' goods on other Lyttelton estates and raided them, driving off the sheep and cattle. Extending the dispute still further, he claimed one of Lyttelton's coal mines. He had the miners arrested, confiscated the stocks of coal and set the mine on fire. The Privy Council summoned Lord Dudley and tried to reason with him, to no effect. Lyttelton complained to the Star Chamber, which found in his favour, fining Sutton heavily for rioting and cattle rustling. It was this that led Sutton to attempt revenge by blocking Edward Littleton's election, as he was a distant kinsman of Gilbert Lyttelton. Feelings were very bitter on both sides. The Privy Council had to write to the Worcestershire assizes in July 1598, demanding action against two of Gilbert Lyttelton's sons, Stephen and John, who had attacked John Sutton and his retainers, although the Suttons had already lost the property dispute. Marriage and family Dudley was married at the age of 14 to Theodosia Harington (d. 1649). She was the daughter of James Harington of Exton, Rutland, a lawyer and long-serving MP. The Haringtons were the most important landowners in Rutland and Theodosia's eldest brother, John, was created Baron Harington of Exton in