Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Dudley (1517–1568) was an English Admiral, soldier, diplomat, and conspirator of the Tudor period. Early life and family Born in Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, Henry Dudley was the second son of John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley. His mother was Cicely, a daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset. Dudley was the first cousin of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey, the second cousin once removed of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and the second cousin of Elizabeth I through their mutual great grandmother, Elizabeth Woodville. He is not to be confused with the youngest of Northumberland's sons, also named Henry Dudley, who married Margaret, the daughter of Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley. Early career Dudley became a monastic auditor under Thomas Cromwell in 1535, and then a soldier serving in Ireland under his uncle Leonard Grey in 1536, and in Scotland from 1540–3. Dudley fought gallantly during the siege of Boulogne in 1544, and was made a Captain early in 1545 under Lord Clinton. Promotion and imprisonment He was promoted to Admiral of the Narrow Seas March 1552 when Lord Clinton was Lord Admiral, and knighted at Hampton Court on 11 October 1551. A close associate of his second cousin, the Duke of Northumberland, he was arrested on 25 July 1553 at Calais. The duke had sent him to France around 13 July 1553 to confer with King Henry II regarding French support in the event of an Imperial intervention in England. Dudley was imprisoned in the Tower of London, but pardoned by Queen Mary on 18 October 1553. Visit to Paris Henry Dudley, having once been Captain of the Guard at Boulogne had many friends in France and in December 1555 visited Paris, where he was curiously well received by King Henry II. Although Dudley returned home with only the vaguest of assurances, even Pope Paul was ill-disposed toward the English Queen Mary because of her marriage into the powerful Habsburg family and that same month signed a secret treaty with Henry II against Spanish dominion. Conspiracy begins Henry Dudley and his agents moved in January, to conceal stores of ammunition at strategic locations, and also secluded an amount of money totalling fifty thousand pounds, previously withdrawn and removed from the Exchequer, (where Dudley was a familiar visitor and had a number of friends), "in water by (London) bridge" to