KGM5 Second generation of Rev. Zachariah and Mary Fox

Second generation  of Rev. Zachariah and Mary Fox

1.1   ZACHARIAH, the eldest son of the Reverend Zachariah Mudge, was born at Exeter 1714. He was a surgeon and practised for some time at Tiverton. He was a man of superior talents.

He died at the age of 39, on board an Indiaman at Canton in 1753. He was the surgeon on the Ship Clinton   He made his will enroute to Madras and China in 1752

The eldest, Zachariah, was a surgeon and apothecary at Taunton, and afterwards surgeon on board an East Indiaman ; he died in 1753 on ship-board, in the river Canton in China


1.2.   MARY was the only daughter of the Reverend Zachariah Mudge, was born at Exeter in 1715.


1.3   Rev Richard Mudge 1718  - 1763

Richard Mudge (born 1718 in Bideford; died April 1763 in Bedworth) was an English clergyman and composer of the late baroque period.

Richard Mudge was the son of the teacher and cleric Zachariah Mudge (1694–1769), and his wife Mary Fox (died c.1762). The third of five children, he was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford from 1735, graduating BA in 1738 and MA in 1741. Initially the private chaplain to Heneage Finch, Lord Guernsey (later 3rd Earl of Aylesford), Mudge became curate of the villages of Great and Little Packington in 1741. Between 1745 and 1757 he was Rector at Little Packington, and from 1750 he was also Curate of St. Bartholomew's Chapel in Birmingham.

He married Mary Hopkins on 27 March 1747 at St Cross Church, Oxford, with whom he had one daughter, Mary (bap. 1752). After 1756 Lord Guernsey established Mudge in the independent living of Bedworth, where he lived until his death.

In 1749 he published a set of six, string concertos (6 Concertos in Seven Parts). The last five of these are written for two solo violins and string orchestra, and No.1 also has a trumpet part. They are all in the form of a French Overture, with a concluding Minuet, and follow the conventional slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of movements common to the form. All these works show the influence of Handel and Francesco Geminiani, and they were staples of the provincial music society repertoire. The collection also contains an eight-part "Non Nobis Domine".

The first recording of Mudge's concerto set was made in 1957 with Maurice André performing the trumpet concerto. A modern edition of Concertos 1, 4 and 6 had already been edited by Gerald Finzi, but a facsimile edition of the complete set was published in 1993 by King's Music.

As late as the 1990s, two portfolios were rediscovered containing other manuscripts of Richard Mudge's music.


Richard MUDGE, Concerto in D Major for trumpet and strings, Maurice ANDRÉ, Ensemble Orchestral de l'Oiseau-Lyre, Pierre COLOMBO, 1955
1. Vivace 03:37, 2. Allegro 03:06, 3. Larghetto 04:00
LONDON Editions de l'Oiseau-Lyre Records OL 50137

more, on french/english (with alternative download rapidshare and filefactory):

http://www.renegagnaux.ch/458378/458399.html


Компози́тор Richard MUDGE: The Rev. Richard Mudge was a member of a distinguished family.
One of his brothers was Thomas Mudge, the famous horologist or clock-maker, another was John, a celebrated surgeon. Their father was the Rev. Zachariah Mudge, prebendary of Exeter, and friend of Dr. Johnson, whilst some of the younger nephews became eminent in the services. Richard won little fame in his own lifetime; the great histories of music passed him by unmentioned, and on the title page of his one surviving work he is simply described as "Mr. Mudge".

But there is little doubt that he was the Richard Mudge who was born at Bideford in 1718, went to Pembroke College, Oxford in 1735, was curate of Great Packington, near Birmingham from 1741-1756, and finally became rector of Bedworth, Warwickshire, under the patronage of the Earl of Aylesford, who was a friend of Handel's. Mudge died in 1763, in obscurity, having published only one musical work, his "Six Concertos in seven parts ... to which is added a Non Nobis Domine in 8 parts", issued in 1749, whilst he was still only a curate at Packington. But although his musical output was small, it was of unusually high quality; Mudge's Concertos can stand comparison even with those of Handel himself, and his "Non Nobis Domine" is unique, for eighteenth century England, in seeming to hark back to the much earlier days of "grave and solemn fancys". Mudge obviously inherited his share of the family intellect, along with a creative musical gift of a high order.

 But as a "dilettante composer" he probably met with little or no encouragement, either within the profession or without - who can forget old Handel's rough rejoinder about another clerical composer: "A parson make concerto! Why he no make sermon?" Mudge's solitary trumpet concerto here recorded (No. 1 of the set of six concertos for various instruments) is of the French overture type so popular in England throughout the eighteenth century. A pompous, splendid opening ushers in a fugato, closely wrought, with an elaborate part for the solo trumpet, and then the work ends with a slow air in triple time. (excerpt text backside LP cover)

The date of death in the above article differs from the records from the Graves at All Saints.

Death 5 Apr 1773 (aged 54-55)
Bedworth, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough, Warwickshire, England
Burial All Saints Churchyard
Chilvers Coton, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough, Warwickshire, England
Plot By the Communion Table inside the Church

 
1.4    Dr John Mudge  1721 - 1793  married three times and had many children.  He married Mary Bulteel, Elizabeth Garrett and Jane.

The Life and Times of Rev John Mudge  1721   From the Memoirs

JOHN MUDGE, the fourth and youngest son of the Rev. Zachariah Mudge, was born at Bideford in 1721, and baptized the same year. He received his education in early years at the Grammar School, Bideford, till his father removed to Plymouth in 1732. He then went to the Plympton Grammar School, where his father's friend, the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, rector of Plympton St. Maurice, was master. When he left school, he determined to enter the medical profession, and at the age of 20 we find him as a student in the Hospital at Plymouth, not so altogether with the full approval of his father, who calculated the expenses entailed in the training and education of a medical student. Mr. Mudge, however, must have considered himself well repaid in later years, by the successful
career his son enjoyed in the profession, which he chose for himself, and which was evidently the one in which he was most fitted to shine.

His progress in his profession was somewhat impeded at first by an early marriage with a Miss Bulteel, when he was entering on life. The consequence was that, as she had no fortune, and he but little practice at that time, he found himself in straitened circumstances, though his wife proved to be a careful and prudent person. She died after the birth of the eighth child.

John Mudge spent the whole of his life at Plymouth, and for many years had an extensive practice there, as a surgeon, and afterwards as a physician. " Had he been," says Fox, " in the great theatre of the Metropolis, he most undoubtedly would have surpassed every competitor ; for the greatness of his natural capacity, together with the extent of his acquired knowledge, and the exquisite beauty of his
disposition and manners, must have rendered him invincible, wherever he was once known."

In 1777 he published a short treatise on inoculated smallpox.

About this time he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1777, the Royal Society published his directions for making the best composition for the metals for reflecting telescopes, with a description of the process for grinding, polishing, and giving the great speculum the true parabolic curve ; for which the Society, the same year presented him with Sir Godfrey Copleys Gold Medal.

Sir John Pringle, the President, in his address on presenting the medal, says,

" Mr. Mudge hath truly realized the expectation of Sir Isaac Newton, who about 100 years ago presaged, that the public would one day possess a parabolic speculum, not accomplished by mathematical rules, but by mechanical devices.

''What acknowledgement then, gentlemen, do we not owe to our worthy brother, who for above 20 years past in the uncertain intervals of a toilsome and anxious profession, hath unbent his mind, not in the perishing recreations of the world, but in investigating with unremitting diligence, what hath been done, but concealed, by others ; and in making many successful experiments towards perfecting this
inimitable instrument ! A liberal account of these leisure hours he hath laid before you in his instructive paper ; a communication I am persuaded, that will not only preserve, but signalize his name in your records, among the very intelligent and ingenious promoters of the great ends of
your institution.'^

In 1778 he published "A radical and expeditious cure for recent catarrhous cough," with a drawing of an Inhaler, which became afterwards in much repute; he also published a treatise on The vis vitae." Dr. Mudge moreover benefited the medical world by several little publications, and was the inventor of several excellent surgical instruments, being a mechanic in practice, as well as in theory.
He made several reflecting telescopes, two large ones of the power of 200, one of which he gave to Count Bruhl, from whom it passed to the Observatory at Gotha; the other belonged to his son, General Mudge.

In 1784 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, at King's College, Aberdeen.

He was a man of great amiability of character, genial and pleasant in his manner, idolized by his family, and beloved and respected by all who knew him. His society was much sought after ; and the varied powers of his mind attracted to his house the leading people of the town and neighbourhood. There seems to have been very good society in Plymouth in those days ; Northcote speaks in the
highest terms of it.

'T not only passed, he says, ''a great deal of my younger days in the company of Reynolds, Johnson, and that circle, but I was brought up among the Mudges, of whom Sir Joshua (who was certainly used to the most brilliant society of the Metropolis) thought so highly, that he had them at his house for weeks, and even gave up his own bedroom to receive them. Yet these were not thought superior to
several other persons at Plymouth, who were distinguished, some for their satirical wit, others for their delightful fancy, others for their information, or sound sense, and with all of whom my father was familiar, when I was a boy."

Amongst Dr. Mudge's friends we must mention, first, Sir Joshua Reynolds, an intimacy with whom sprang up from his earliest years, and which was but a continuation of that, which existed between their respective fathers. Northcote remarks, that Mr. Reynold's friendship for the whole family, and the interest he took in whatever related to them, were of the liveliest kind. This acquaintance with the Mudges, both father and son, ought to be reckoned amongst the earliest of his literary connections."

''In the Autumn of the year 1762, Reynolds having impaired his health, by incessant application to his profession, paid a visit to his native county, accompanied by his friend. Dr. Johnson, with whom he was entertained at the seats of several noblemen and gentlemen, in the West of England. During their stay at Plymouth they were the guests of Dr. Mudge ; a man whose virtues and various powers of mind, if described, would occupy a much larger space than I shall presume to give in this short
memoir," says Northcote in his life of Sir Joshua.^

Dr. Johnson spent many weeks in his house, and learnt to value him as a friend and appreciate his talents. To this visit we have already referred, in the life of Dr. Mudge's father. In after years, in 1783, when afflicted with a complaint that required superior skill, Dr. Johnson travelled as far as Salisbury, to meet him and seek his advice. Some extracts from Johnson's letters to Dr. Mudge, when he expected that relief for the complaint, under which he was suffering, would only be found in the use of the surgical knife, are given by Boswell.^

Dr. Mudge used to relate one or two anecdotes of Dr. Johnson, relative to incidents which occurred during his stay in Plymouth: one of these is as follows. A Mr. Cookworthy, a quaker, an eminent chemist, and a disciple of Swedenborg, was anxious to shew Dr. Johnson his power •of discovering hidden metals by a divining rod. Accordingly a deposit was made in a garden and buried, and Cookworthy, a venerable old man with white locks, carefully and anxiously perambulated the garden with his rod, while Dr. Johnson was seen intently watching his progress.
At last Cookworthy felt the power of the rod, and determined the spot where the vessel had been deposited ; but unfortunately it had been placed in a different part of the garden, from whence they took up a large mortar, used by druggists.


The quickness of the quaker at once endeavoured to account for the failure, and turning to his friend said ''Thou seest friend Mudge how this is." " I only see," replied Mudge, "you are mistaken, friend Cookworthy, in the supposed power of the rod." "Nay!" says Cookworthy, it is bell metal, the mixture has destroyed the native metal; and therefore it would not assimilate."

On another occasion Dr. Mudge, in conversation with Johnson, mentioned a circumstance of a most curious mode of trial, to which a friend of his, a man of undoubted veracity, had been an eye-witness. Dr. Johnson desired to have it related to him by the person who saw it; on which the gentleman, being introduced to the Doctor, repeated the circumstances, which were these ; In some part of the East Indies, a man, one of the natives, was suspected of murder, and the mode taken to prove either his guilt or innocence was this. The suspected criminal was brought, guarded, and his hands bound, to a public place prepared for the trial, where was a large fire, over which was a cauldron of melted lead ; into this vessel of melted lead, he was forced to dip his naked hand, which, if he was innocent of the supposed crime, it was concluded would receive no injury from the burning metal, but if guilty, would be destroyed.

All the officers of the English man-of-war, then in the harbour, and of which the gentleman who related it was the purser, were present at this extraordinary manner of trial, and the gentleman averred that he distinctly saw the prisoner dip his hand into the melted lead, taking up some in his palm, and leisurely spilling it on the ground at his feet, without any apparent injury or even pain to his hand. One of the English officers present had the curiosity to put a small stick, which he held in his hand, into the cauldron, and taking it out again, found the part, which had been immersed in the metal, nearly consumed.

Dr. Johnson heard this narrative with much attention, and declared he would willingly take a voyage to the East Indies, if he could be insured to be witness of such a sight. Johnson's credulity and superstition made him a fit subject to whom to relate such a story.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, according to Boswell, used to relate the following anecdote of Johnson while at Plymouth.
" Having observed, that in consequence of the Dock-yard, a new town had arisen about two miles off as a rival to the old ; and knowing, from his sagacity and just observation of human nature, that it is certain if a man hates at all, he will hate his next neighbour ; he concluded that this new and rising town could not but excite the envy and jealousy of the old, in which conjecture he was very soon confirmed ; he therefore set himself resolutely on the side of the old town, the established town, in which his lot was cast, considering it as a kind of duty to stand by it. He accordingly entered warmly into its interests, and upon every occasion talked of the dockers, as the inhabitants of the new town
were called, as upstarts and aliens. Plymouth is very plentifully supplied with water by a river brought into it from a great distance, which is so abundant that it runs to waste in the town. The Dock, or Newtown, being totally destitute of water, petitioned Plymouth that a small portion of the conduit might be permitted to go to them, and this was now under consideration. Johnson, affecting to entertain the passions of the place, was violent in his opposition ; and half laughing at himself for his pretended zeal, where he had no concern, exclaimed, No, no ! I am against the dockers ; I am a Plymouth man. Rogues ! let them die of thirst. They shall not have a drop."^

After the destruction of Rudyard's lighthouse by fire, John Smeaton was called upon, to erect upon the Edystone Rock, a building at once more substantial and permanent.
For that purpose he came to Plymouth in 1756. Dr. Mudge, who always associated himself with all matters of scientific interest, at once sought out Smeaton; and the Engineer became a guest in his house during his residence in Plymouth. This was the commencement of a friendship which
lasted through their lives.

It is not needful to follow Smeaton through the three years, during which he was employed in the erection of his lighthouse. He personally superintended the construction of the entire building. If there was any post of danger from which the men shrank back, he immediately stood forward and took the front place, " the post of honour," as he called it, making it a rule never to require another to undertake what he was afraid to do himself.

Whilst working at the rock on one occasion, an accident occurred to him, which might have been attended with serious consequences but in which he displayed his usual cheerful courage. He was walking on some new work that had been erected, when he made a false step, and, unable to recover his balance, fell down amongst the rocks below. He found shortly afterwards that he had put his thumb out of joint;:, knowing that he was unable to obtain the aid of a surgeon he determined to reduce the dislocation by himself; and giving his thumb a violent pull, he snapped it into its place again, after which he proceeded to fix the centre stone of his building.

Dr. Mudge used to relate the following anecdote of Smeaton while engaged about the lighthouse. He had contracted for certain requirements for his work with a man, who made a great profession of religion, but who did not always consider strict honesty an essential. Smeaton remonstrated with him on one occasion, and finding he could get, what he wanted, made better in other quarters, refused to take any more of the material supplied by the Contractor. The man pressed hard, but Smeaton was positive. The Contractor, assuming a religious expression and tone of voice, said in a solemn manner, Then surely the Lord will not prosper the work you have in hand."

This was too much for Smeaton ;.. his rage, which no doubt had been pent up for some time,, boiled over at these words ; he rose from his chair, ex-claiming, "You puritanical scoundrel, do you pretend to be in the secrets of the Almighty and taking him by the shoulders threw him over the stairs. When living at Plymouth, Smeaton used to go out upon the Hoe with his telescope, in the early grey of the morning, and stand gazing through it in the direction of the rock. After a rough night at sea, his sole thought was of his lighthouse, and he would sweep the horizon with his telescope ; sometimes he would have to wait long until he could see a tall pillar of spray shoot up into the air. Then as the light grew, he could discern the building standing firm amidst the waters, and thus far satisfied, he could proceed to his workshops, his mind
relieved for that day.

In 1759 the work reached its completion, Smeaton fixing with his own hands the last screws of the gilt ball above the cupola, at great risk balancing himself on a few boards at the height of a hundred and twenty feet above the sea. He had caused the last mason's work to be the cutting out of the words Laus Deo'' upon the last stone set over the door of the lantern, while round the storeroom had been engraved Except the Lord build the house, they labour is in vain that build it." When all was completed, and a great load, the anxiety of three years, had been taken off his mind, we are not surprised therefore to find him full of gratitude to God. The same motive, which led him to place the above words, caused him to take Mr. Mudge, the Vicar of St. Andrew's, to the new work. When they had alighted on the rock, he made the old man ascend to the very top of the building, and within the lantern they raised their voices in praise to God, and joined together in singing the grand Old Hundredth Psalm, as a thanksgiving for the successful conclusion of this arduous undertaking.

The stability of the new lighthouse had to be proved, for though its strength was acknowledged, it had still to be shown whether, if such a storm as had destroyed Winstanley's Lighthouse in 1703 again occurred, it would share the same fate or not. The year 1762 was ushered in with stormy weather, and produced a tempest, which put the tower to the extremest test. Smeaton in his narrative of the building says, my very valuable and ingenious friend, Dr. John Mudge, gave me two letters upon the subject of
this storm, which coming warm from the heart, so much exceed anything I can compose, that I cannot do so well as to insert them."
 

Plymouth, Friday, 15th January, 1762.

Dear Sir,

Accept my most sincere congratulations on the safety of the Edystone ; as well from the danger that has threatened it, as that I think the dreadful storm it has withstood, will forever remove any anxiety about its being injured in the future, by the united force of the wind and sea. It blew very hard the beginning of Monday night, but increased with incredible fury towards Tuesday morning ; when about six, partly from the long southerly winds, but principally by its concurring with the spring-tides, it afforded the most horrible scene of devastation. The tide rose full two feet higher, than when the Victory was lost, and when the Fishhouse was carried away ; or than was ever known in the memory of the oldest man living. The seas came in boldly over the Barbican wall, but one wave with such irresistible violence, that it swept away the parapet, below its foundation ; and in its return carried off five people then upon it, all of whom were drowned. The new Lammy pier was swept clean away. Prodigious losses have been sustained by the shopkeepers on the quays ; as in some of their shops near the Barbican, the water was as high as their counters ; and the quays themselves are in so ruinous a condition, and so much of them carried away, that had the gale continued till the next tide, it is highly probable some of them would have been wholly swept away, and the houses with them.

In the midst of this confusion there was no less than six large merchant ships wrecked in the very harbour, some of them were beat to pieces and but all lost ; and this in the short space of 300 yards betwixt Teatshill and Bearhead. There were nine men of war in the sound ; several of which
were constantly firing signals of distress. Some cut away one, others two, another three, and one lost, all her masts and her bowsprit. Three of them only escaped with all their masts standing ; one of which, to avoid immediate destruction on the. south side of Mount Batten, was, by the great dexterity of the pilot, brought in within the Fisher's Nose, and run ashore under the Lammy : but this was when
the ebb had made considerably ; so that she was safely got off the next tide.

But it exhibited a very uncommon appearance ; as I believe it was the first time that ever a man of war was seen in that place. In the Hamoaze the men of war were all this while firing signals of distress ; and some of them ran foul of each other. The sea came over the dock gates, into the dock where the Magnanime was ; but as there did not come in enough to float her, it did no considerable damage. The new dock was likewise filled. I will only mention one circumstance more, to give you some idea of the extreme agitation of the sea ; the froth of it flew clean over the walls of the garrison ; and in such
quantities, that in one situation a sentinel was obliged to quit his post.

"In the midst of all this horror and confusion, my friend may be assured, that I was not insensible to his honour and credit ; yet in spite of the high opinion and confidence I had of his judgment and abilities, I could not but feel the utmost anxiety for the fate of the Edystone, and I believe poor Richardson was not a little uneasy.

Several times in the day, I swept with my telescope from the garrison, as near as I could imagine, the line of the horizon ; but it was so extremely black, fretful, and hazy, that nothing could be seen ; and I was obliged to go to bed that night, with a mortifying uncertainty. But the next morning- early, I had great joy to see that the Gilded Ball had triumphed over the fury of the storm ; and such a one as before I had not a conception of. I saw the whole so distinctly from the bottom to the top, that I could be very sure the lantern has suffered nothing. It is now my most steady belief, as well as everybody's here, that its inhabitants are rather more secure in a storm, under the united force of wind and water, than we are in our houses from the former only."

Smeaton continues : I wrote in return, desiring he would send me a circumstantial account of the damages, after the house had been visited."



The following is an extract from Dr. Mudge's second letter, dated Plymouth, the 24th January, 1762.

" The boat went off, with an intention to land, on Friday sennight ; but there was so great a sea, and the wind being too much to the south, they desisted till the next day ; when the wind being a point to the north of the west, and better weather, they got near the house, landed their things, and had a long conversation with the people.

Smart tells me, that the ladder was carried away ; and some small matter of putty, which was cracked by the last summer's heat, was washed off from the lantern. This was all that the violence of the sea had effected ; that there was not so much as a single pane of glass broke. That the lantern was secured by (that perfection of ornament) the Cornice ; which, when the sea rose to the top of the
house, blanched it off like a sheet. They insisted on it, that the sea went bodily over the top, for that it came in through the vents of the ball, and filled the sockets of the candlesticks.

They were asked whether they had been under any uneasiness ; they said, not in the least, as the house had not been affected by it, in any other way than they had before experienced. The storm in the evenings of Monday began at the south-east, and they felt very sensibly a tremor from every stroke of the sea ; so that while it continued there to act upon the natural cavern of the rock, it gave them some uneasiness ; which though they now believed unnecessary, yet they could not help wishing it was filled up. Now, though I look upon this as a proof, that no storm will ever affect the house, as it is a plain smooth surface ; and though a less sea has a greater influence on the rock at low water, than a mighty one has upon the house itself; yet I must say, that I concur with them in wishing it was done ; and that for two reasons ; one is, I should be glad to see every, the least, appearance of defect removed and the other, that I should hope it would give me a chance of seeing my dear friend, once more, here.

In earnest, I wish you'd complete the rock too, as well as the house ; for so many vibratory strokes can do it no service.

You seem to have been greatly affected by the little I have said of the horror of this storm ; but believe me, it cannot give you even a tolerable idea of it. It has, upon a moderate computation, done above £80,000 worth of damage, in the harbour and sound ; and I cannot help repeating again, that I am very sure you may for ever rid yourself of an uneasy thought of the house, as to its danger from wind and sea."

P.S. — I broke open this letter to mention a whimsical circumstance, that comes in my head : one of the articles, besides sugar, some flour, &c., which they landed at the house, was a gallipot of putty, to repair, as I said, the only derangement the house had suffered."

Dr. Mudge's hospitality extended also to Ferguson, the Astronomer,^ who was an inmate of his house for some months. James Ferguson's career was shortly this. He was born in Banffshire in 17 10. His father, a day labourer, taught him to read and write. His early taste for practical mechanics and for astronomy, which he studied while herding sheep, was extraordinary. It attracted the notice of Mr. Gilchrist, the minister of Keith, who gave him much assistance in the pursuit of his studies. When about twenty he entered into the service of Mr. Grant, whose butler taught him decimals and the elements of algebra.

After being in the service of one or two other persons, he went to reside with Sir James Dunbar of Durn; and at the suggestion of Lady Dipple, Sir James Dunbar's sister, he began to
draw patterns for ladies' dresses, and copied pictures and prints with pen and ink. Having drawn a portrait, which was much admired, he began to draw likenesses from life in Indian ink : these appeared to his patrons so excellent, that they took him to Edinburgh, where he commenced the practice of his art at once. He succeeded so well, that he obtained money enough, not only to defray his own expenses, but to contribute largely to the support of his aged parents.

Though he continued to follow his profession for about twenty-six years, he seems never to have given his mind to it. He continued his attention to Astronomy, and drew an Astronomical Rotula, for exhibiting the eclipses of the sun, which ran through several impressions.

In 1743 he resolved to go to London, where he continued his profession of drawing portraits, but devoted his leisure to astronomical pursuits.

In 1747 he published his first work, A dissertation on the Phenomena of the Harvest Moon." In 1748 he read lectures on the eclipse of the sun, which happened in that year. From this time to the end of his life he continued his lectures.

Soon after the accession of George III, a pension of £^0 was granted him. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and died in 1776.

*' March 1768 Sterne died," is an extract I find from Dr. Mudge's note book; perhaps he had met the author of Tristram Shandy at Sir Joshua's house. His was a sad end, and I cannot refrain from narrating it. Early in March he lay dying in his lodging in the silk-bag shop, in Old Bond Street, without a friend to close his eyes. None but a hired nurse was in the room, when a footman, sent from a dinner-table, where was gathered a gay and brilliant party — the Dukes of Roxburgh and Grafton, the Earls of March and Ossory, David Garrick, and David Hume, — to inquire how Dr. Sterne did, was bid to go upstairs by the woman in the shop. He found Sterne "just a dying." In ten minutes, Now it is come" ! he said, put up his hand as if to stop a blow, and died in a minute.

"His laurels, such as they were, were still green. The town was ringing with the success of the ' Sentimental Journey' just published. The great and gay, we see, were concerned about him. He did not choose, perhaps, that his brilliant London acquaintance should be with him at that encounter with the grim summoner, whom he had laughed at in his time, as at most things awful and venerable.
Sterne's funeral was as friendless as his death-bed. Becket, his publisher, was the only one who followed the body to its undistinguished grave, in the parish-burial ground of Marylebone, near Tyburn gallows-stand. Nor was this ungraced funeral the last indignity of that poor body, over whose
infirmities Sterne had alternately puled and jested. The grave-yard lay far from houses : no watch was kept after dark; all shunned the ill famed neighbourhood. Sterne's body was marked down by the body snatchers, the corpse dug up and sold to the professor of anatomy at Cambridge.

A student, present at the dissection, recognised under the scalpel the face — not one easily to be forgotten, as we know from Reynold's picture — of the brilliant wit and London lion of a few seasons before.

James Northcote, as w'e have already seen, was also intimately acquainted with Dr. Mudge. It was through a letter of introduction from Dr. Mudge, that Sir Joshua Reynolds took the chemist's apprentice as his pupil. Northcote was then a youth, and with the letter started to London, with only his hard earned savings in his pocket.

His successful career, as a painter, was an evidence of the discrimination of Dr. Mudge in thus bringing him under the notice of Reynolds.  Northcote always entertained a great regard for him, and they constantly corresponded with one another for many years. Some of the letters addressed by Dr. Mudge to Northcote, are here introduced.




Dear Sir,

1 have intended for several posts past to assure you of my best wishes, and at the same time to thank you for both your letters; but by some means or other I have been constantly prevented. I was rather uneasy, when I received your last, to find that by a misapprehension of Mr. Elford, you had been informed that I was displeased with your silence ; I know you will give me credit, when I assure
you it was a mistake. I own, I wished much to hear from you before your brother came down, and to know what kind of prospect was placed before you ; but since I received your first letter, I entirely depended for my further information on your occasional correspondence with your own house. I am much pleased to find that your father seems prepared for, and perfectly reconciled to, any schemes
in the painting way, whether your encouragements should turn out sufficient to induce you to settle in London, or otherwise to tarry so long as pecuniary considerations will permit you, so as to lay in such a fund of knowledge, and make those acquirements, which will at least turn out advantageous.

 If upon the whole you should find that there is no prospect of setting up in London, and yet should wish to stay some considerable time longer, I must insist on the promise you gave me, that you will not suffer the scantiness of your finances to discourage your schemes, but you will candidly give me a hint, and I will with great pleasure send you a remittance immediately. As I know you are interested in everything which concerns my happiness, I am sure it will give you pleasure to hear, that I am emerging from the most oppressed and unhappy state of spirits I ever experienced, though, God knows, I have felt severe and awful dispensations of providence. I have reason to hope that my wife's illness will have a happy termination, for though she is far from well, she intends to go to Mr. Morley's country house for her perfect recovery to-morrow. I do not know that I have anything further to add, but my thanks for the trouble you took to forward my glasses, which were exactly the thing ; and my assurances that you have the most ardent wishes of your sincere friend,

JOHN MUDGE.

Plymouth, July 19, 1771."

''Plymouth, nth April, 1772.

Dear Friend,

A very severe fit of the gout, from which I am not yet recovered, will only allow me at present to thank you very heartily for your obliging present of the picture, which is exceedingly well done, and I shall highly value it ; and to request the favour of you to procure for Mr. Charles Fox (my neighbour James Fox's nephew), who will call on you soon, a sight of Sir Joshua's Pictures. I would have written Sir Joshua himself, but as I know he is soon to be with us, was not sure whether a letter would find him in town. All your family are well, and I am ever, my dear Sir,

Your most faithful friend,

JOHN MUDGE.'

Dear Friend,

I intended to have wrote you last post to have returned you my thanks for your kind attention to my dear Tom ; I was then prevented, but now do it most sincerely, for, without a compliment, I am sure the countenance of so worthy a friend must have been a very great comfort to him ; and I do not know that anything would give me more real satisfaction, than to see the acquaintance subsisting between you, cultivated into the warmest friendship.


I find you have a brace of Pictures in the Exhibition, a young lady, and an old man ; the former, I daresay, will do you credit; but the latter, as the original will be known to a number of spectators, will do you, I daresay, infinite honour ; as the excellences of drawing and manner will be united.
I much want to know the fate of the west country Landscape, for, entre notis, though I think it well enough considering, yet considering where it is gone, I wish it had tarried at home; for if Sir Joshua gives it a place in the Exhibition, I think it the strongest proof of his partial attachment to the place of his birth, that he can well give.

Everybody knows how far application and industry will go with little genius ; and the merit of the picture consists in showing how far the latter will extend without the assistance of the former ; but few, that view the picture in the Exhibition, will make those allowances.

Is Comte Ugolino finished, the engraving I mean ? do let me know, when you write. Be so good as to give my compliments to Sir Joshua and Miss Reynolds.

Your very faithful friend,

JOHN MUDGE. Plymouth, April 26th, 1774."

" Boconnoc, Jan. 29th, 1775.

My dear Friend,

I daresay you have considered, by my long silence, that you should hear no more from me ; and, if so, must have formed conclusions, not very favourable to my gratitude or even friendship. I hope, however, you will give me credit, when I assure you that it has not arisen from want of either; for I have in truth stood self-condemned, ever since the last obliging present you made me of the excellent copy of my friend Mr. Smelt's picture  ; so very good a one, that, if you had pleased, you might have kept the original, and palmed off the copy upon me ; for, except the advantage the former has from the mellowness of tone, which is only discoverable when the two are by the side of each other, I protest I should not have known your's from the original.

The same cause or causes, which have delayed my very hearty thanks to you for it, have hitherto delayed my sending it to the family; which I shall however do now very soon.

My mind has, for a great while past, been so much oppressed by the melancholy incident in my own family, and at the same time so embarassed, particularly of late, by business, that I really have scarcely had resolution to do anything, but what necessity has forced upon me. I hope,
therefore, you will be so good to accept this as an apology for this apparent neglect, and believe me, when I assure you that I ever had, and shall ever cherish, the most cordial friendship and affection for you. I write this from Mr. Pitt's in Cornwall.

You will be so good as to give my compliments to Sir Joshua, and tell him that I believe he has forgot his promise, which I have with great impatience expected, the etching of Comte Ugolino ; he was so good as to say he would give me one of the first impressions, as soon as they came to his hands ; do be so good as to put him in mind of it. I hope you see my dear Tom frequently; I wish he may be as close a copyist of your virtues, as you have been with regard to my friend ; which I do not despair of, as I am happy in believing him well disposed to it. My time and paper are at an end, so I shall only add that I am ever, my dear Friend,

Yours most faithfully,

JOHN MUDGE."
Dear Sir,

If I have not given myself too much credit with you, you will believe me, when I assure you that I have, for some time past, suffered under self-condemnation, for not giving you earlier thanks for your very kind letter; but I have an excuse to offer, that you cannot feel the force of, nor will, till seventy years have gone over your head ; and then you will be sensible of the rigidity and stiffness of mind accompanying them. When I received your letter, I had not read Mr. Burke's book. I have done so since, and read it with wonder and rapture. It is certainly full of principle, and most admirably written ; but I fear it is the beauty of the diction, which principally pleases this waterish age.

Though the manner and method is not the best, perhaps it is almost the worst, the French could have chosen to establish their new Constitution ; I am inclined to believe, when this crisis is complete, which however is at a vast distance, and the Fever of the Mind is subsided, it will settle into a better state than could have been procured by attempts to amend the old one. There is a strong analogy between the Political world and the Animal Economy ; physicians have their distant and proximate causes, both which are essential to the production of disease, or that bustle in the constitution, which is necessary to the reinstatement of health in the animal ; and those are so far correlates to each other, that the cause can no more subsist without the effect, than the effect without the cause. Now the alteration in the mode of thinking, which has been gradually growing in the French Nation, for above an age past, renders them intolerant of their late Government ;
nor is it possible to reinstate it, unless the general mind and feelings were to return to the state they were formerly in.
Brutus was much mistaken, when he thought by the assassination of Caesar he could recover the original greatness of the Commonwealth ; the Romans had by degrees lost their virtues, and they were incapable of any Government, but a despotic one. So much for politicks.

Mrs. Mudge and my family join in kindest remembrance to yourself and Miss Northcote, and I am always,
my dear Sir,

Yours most affectionately,

JOHN MUDGE.

Pray present my kindest remembrance to Sir Joshua.

Plymouth, March 25th, 1791."

The following- is a short note addressed to Samuel Northcote, James Northcote's brother.

Dr. Mudge belonged for many years to a Club in Plymouth, called the Otter Club ; it was instituted by some young men, who used to meet in the mornings for the purpose of sea bathing, and once a fortnight in the evenings at a tavern for each other's society, where they supped together. Dr. Mudge was one of the founders of this Club, which was composed of 12 members, each of whom had a silver medal, which they wore at their breasts on the evening of their meetings.

Some few months before his death Dr. Mudge wrote this letter, and with it sent his medal.


'*To Mr. Northcote, with a medal:

My dear Friend, will you have the goodness to return my medal to the Club, with my most affectionate wishes for its happiness and permanence.

There is a time of life, when sensual pleasures grow vapid and cease to please. That period I have arrived at : but juvenile ones entangle themselves around the heart, and are the last to quit their hold ; among these, this necessary sacrifice of my medal to fatal necessity I make with the greatest reluctance. I have worn it full half a century near my heart.

JOHN MUDGE.

Between 2 and 3 in the morning after a sleepless night, Oct. I St, 1792.''

Dr. Mudge seems to have had a happy knack of pleasing everyone who was thrown in his way ; he was never known to mortify any person by an illiberal remark, and he would even appear pleased and give commendation, when one of his own stories was related to him, and never shew his previous knowledge of it.

His patients, who found a friend in their physician, were always fascinated by his conversation ; on one occasion Dr. Warren, an eminent London physician, in sending a patient to the mild air of Stonehouse, told the lady that he sent her to Dr. Mudge, and that if his physic did not cure her, his conversation would.

Northcote, in one of his " Conversations " with Hazlitt, speaks too of the beauty of his character. Dr. Mudge," he says, was one of the most delightful persons I ever knew. Every one was enchanted with his society. It was not wit that he possessed, but such perfect cheerfulness and good humour, that it was like health coming into the room. He was a most agreeable companion, quite natural and un- affected. His reading was the most beautiful I have ever heard. I remember him once reading Moore's fable of the Female Seducers with such feeling and sweetness, that every one was delighted, and Dr. Mudge himself was so much affected, that he burst into tears in the middle of it."'

This brightness and gentleness of character is the more remarkable from the fact, that for many years he suffered greatly from the gout. He had the talent however of extracting good from all that presented itself to him, and in the midst of severe pain, he would brighten up at the entrance of a friend, and cheerfully answer the inquiry for his health, by saying, " nearly gone; the thread is drawn as fine as it can be." This serenity of mind never forsook him, and it appeared from an Epitaph written with his own hand, and found amongst his papers after his death, as if he had determined, that his last hour should be placid and resigned.

The Epitaph is as follows : —

" Janua vitae sepulchrum est.
Hie juxta sitae sunt exuviae
Joannis Mudge,
Medicinae Doctoris,
Societatis Regiae Socii.
Ipse ille,
Spe certa in Christo resurgendi,
pie placideque animam,

Deo reddidit
Anno Domini 17 —

His family had, in the 72nd year of his age, to fill in the blank which was left for the date, with the 26th of March, 1793. On that morning he ceased to live. He was found as if quietly sleeping, his face calm and peaceful, the book he had been reading was lying on the bed, face downwards, and not moved by the least struggle. His spirit, so gentle in life, had gently passed away to a brighter existence.

His death was felt at Plymouth, and throughout the West, as a public calamity.

He was buried near to his father in St. Andrew's Church, I where a monument by Banks was erected by his family, with the above inscription, in the South East Corner of the North Aisle. The following is the character of Dr. Mudge, written by Mr. Gandy on the morning of his death.

Monday, April 1st. Pall bearers Lord Eliot, Mr, Elford, Mr. Samuel Northcote, Mr. Leach, Mr. Dunsterville, Mr. Bastard of Kitley, and Mr. Heywood of Merristow.

Plymouth, March 26th.

This morning in the 72nd year of his age, died Dr. Mudge, an eminent Physician of this place, as universally lamented, as he had lived beloved and esteemed. In this excellent man were combined the best qualities of the head and the heart. His admirable genius, which signalized him, not only in the various departments of his own Profession, but in many other walks both of Art and Science, was
tempered with the most engaging benevolence, and condescension ; and his medical practice was combined with so unaffected a sympathy with the miseries he was called to relieve, that his patients felt he was their friend, as well as their physician. In domestick scenes, his affectionate attentions inexpressibly endeared him to his family ; at the same time that the vigour, and brilliancy of his conversation, rendered him a very instructive and delightful companion.

His cup of life was but too largely dashed with the bitterness of pain and sorrow ; yet through the natural cheerfulness of his temper, and the affecting sense he entertained of the truths and duties of Religion, he had the happy talent of alleviating his own burdens, and those of his sympathizing
friends, by extracting and enjoying whatever portion of good he found mingled with the evils of life. This sunshine of the breast never forsook him, and would no doubt have shed a lustre on his last moments, had he been called to the task of patience and resignation, by a lingering and laborious change. But he was spared this trial, by a sudden and easy passage from this life to that better state, which is perfectly congenial to the piety and the philanthropy that distinguished him."

A few days after Dr. Mudge's death, Mr. Richard Rosdew, of Beechwood, received a letter from Mr. Thomas Mudge, which we here subjoin.

" Dear Rosdew,

The melancholy tidings of the death of my poor uncle has given us much concern. As to my father, as he is exceedingly low, and is, as Robinson tells me, going very fast himself, I have not yet told him that his brother is actually dead ; tho' I have said he was in such a state that it was impossible for him to recover ; I mean, when I return to day, to say I have heard of his death.

The moment I received your letter yesterday, with the character written by Mr. Gandy (which I think a most excellent one) I set to work and made three copies, which Bayly and myself put into the letter boxes of the Star, the Oracle, and the London Chronicle ; upon enquiring since, I am not quite certain whether the publishers will insert it without being paid as an advertisement, but if I don't find it in the Star or the London Chronicle this evening, I will pay for the insertion of it in the Star on Monday. Before Mr. G. had written his character, I had made an attempt at the description of my uncle, which I did when I heard from you some time since, that from the state of his lungs, he had given himself over, and you were in constant expectation of his death.

What I have said I send you a copy of, on the other side, tho' I beg at the same time to have it understood, that I consider my sketch but a faint shade in comparison of what Mr. G. has done.

Remember us all most affectionately to Jane, who will, I trust, by the time you receive this, have been somewhat recovered from the shock she has received.

Adieu, and believe me very affectionately yours,

THOS. MUDGE."

Mr. Thomas Mudge's character of his uncle we add, as it is interesting to know how Dr. Mudge was esteemed by his own relations.

''On the 26th day of March, died at Plymouth at the advanced age of 72, Dr. John Mudge, an eminent Physician of that place. To those who were not acquainted with him, the just description of his virtues and abilities might appear like the exaggerated painting of an affectionate but partial friend ; but by those who had the happiness of knowing 'him intimately, it will be allowed hardly too much, to say
that no character ever existed, in whom was more eminently combined all the valuable qualities of the Head and Heart.

Extensively connected with mankind, he received, from the distinguished and worthy part of them, the most flattering testimonies of affection and esteem. Naturally of a tender constitution, and greatly afflicted from an early period of life with gout, he had frequent opportunities to manifest his
cheerfulness and fortitude under the most severe pressure of pain and disease. His genius, which shone conspicuous in his professional character, did not confine itself to his medical abilities; but the energy of his mind was apparent in everything, that at any time became an object of his attention. Of the truth of this assertion one instance may be mentioned which is an extraordinary one. Several years
ago amidst the fatigues of business, and the frequent interruptions of sickness, he amused himself by making reflecting telescopes ; and these he brought to such a degree of perfection, that in the year 1777, on presenting to the Royal Society a paper describing the best methods of making the specula for them, he had conferred upon him the Gold Medal, as a reward for his communication.

A Christian in practice as well as in principle, when, worn out by accumulated infirmities, he saw the approaches of death to be inevitable, he calmly breathed his last, and expired with the animating hope, that his virtues and labours would be rewarded with that happiness, which a conviction of the truth of the religion which he professed, led him to expect in a future and better state."

The following notice of Dr. Mudge's death appeared in the London papers.

** Died at Plymouth on the 26th of March, 1793, after having been subject for many years to severe and repeated attacks of the gout, which he bore with the greatest fortitude, John Mudge, M.D., F.R.S., who for his skill in the Science of Mechanics was no less eminent, than in that of Medicine, of which his improvements in the formation of Reflecting Telescopes, his excellent Medical Treatises, long and extensive practice, bear ample testimony ; but to his private virtues, his social talents, the quickness and penetration of his judgment, the warmth of his friendship, and the goodness of his heart, those who had the happiness of knowing him best can speak, and long will have reason to lament his loss."
 
These verses, written by Mr. Andrew Sanders of Plymouth, were published in one of the London papers about the same time.

" Reader, if vice or folly mark thy life,
If guilty passions rage with baleful strife,
If aught malignant in thy mind be found,
Let not thy step profane this hallowed ground,
But if benevolence thy bosom warm,
If genius fire thee, or if science charm.
If virtue to thy soul were ever dear,
On Mudge's ashes drop the kindred tear."

The following lines also appeared in the newspapers, entitled, An Elegy. To the memory of the late Dr. Mudge of Plymouth."

" With skill to cure, or soften human ills,
And temper e'en the malady that kills ;
With worth to dignify what science grac'd,
With knowledge, learning, polished wit and taste,
We saw thee blest, and whilst we viewed, admired
What Heaven bestowed, and studious toil acquired j
Daily enriched, thy ample mind was fraught
With brilliance, fire, and energy of thought ;
The heart, which felt each soft affection's power,
Seemed formed by nature in her happiest hour ;
Thy talents shewed what blessings Heaven can give ;
Thy manners charmed, and taught us how to live.

" The tears, which nature and affection shed
O'er the lost friend, the tribute of the dead.
For thee, oh ! frequent fell ; no common woe
Bade the full stream of heart-felt sorrow flow :
All who the gift of thy affection shared.
Enjoyed thy friendship, favour, or regard.
Who prized thy talents, or thy worth revered,
By whom respected, and to whom endeared.
All wept thy loss, with grief and pain severe,
Great as thy worth, and as their love sincere.

" While sad reflection all the past reviews,
And scenes now closed in retrospect renews,
Affection sees thee all thyself appear.
So great, so good, so honoured, and so dear.
And midst the sketches, memory's power displays,
Which gild the picture with its brighter rays,
The deepened traits, which meet the eye, disclose
That even thou hast tasted human woes :
That health, which followed where thy skill was tried,
Was to thyself, ah ! long and oft denied :
That all the ties which round the heart entwine.
And which with added strength encircled shine,
Were in severe succession burst in twain ;
Sad fruitful source of misery and pain.


" E'en midst those sorrows, and those scenes of grief, Where the full aching heart finds no relief,
Those powers, which minds like thine alone can know, Softened thy pangs and dignified thy woe :
And in that hour, whose sad event we weep, When tired Nature sank to peaceful sleep.
Thy soul its proud pre-eminence displayed. Seemed from its native Heaven too long delayed,
And, e'en on earth from human dross refined, With scarce one struggle left the world behind,
Shook off mortality, and winged its flight To realms celestial, and the seat of light."

Dr. Mudge was married three times, and had twenty children. The name, Mary Bulteel, is all that is on record of his first wife. His second wife was called Jane. She died in 1766 and was buried at St. Andrews. He married 29th May, 1767, thirdly, Elizabeth Garrett, who survived him, and continued to reside in Plymouth after his decease.
She died in 1808. Her death is recorded on the tablet erected in memory of her husband.

"Elizabeth Mudge,
optimi hujus viri vidua
obiit 6 Aug: A.D. 1808,
set: suae 72.

By his first wife he had a numerous family, of whom three sons and three daughters died of consumption after having passed the age of 20. Of his children we shall have to speak very shortly. There is a very fine portrait of Dr. Mudge, painted when he was a young man, by his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first picture Reynolds painted after his return from Italy. It is particularly described in Leslie's Life of Reynolds.

Northcote tells us, that on his return (from Italy) he found his health in such an indifferent state, as to judge it prudent to pay a visit to his native air, but this he would naturally do whether well or ill. He remained three months in Devonshire, and while at Plymouth painted a portrait of Dr. John Mudge, an eminent physician, a man  of great abilities, and not more esteemed for the variety of his knowledge, than loved for his amiable manners.

''This portrait of Dr. Mudge is now at the residence of Mr. Mudge at Sydney, Plympton. It represents Dr. Mudge almost in profile ; he wears a reading cap, and is turning over the leaves of a folio. The head is a very noble one, with marked and regular features. But owing, I have no doubt, to an injudicious removal of the varnish which locked up the glazing colours, the carnations have utterly disappeared, leaving the head as modelled in the first stage of painting, in little more than tones of black and white. Both the doctor's portrait and two of his father, have been engraved ; the former by Grozier, Dickenson, ^  and S. W. Reynolds, the latter by Watson.

This picture was painted in 1753.

Northcote has left us two very good copies of this picture.

The mezzotints of this picture were never sold during his lifetime, as Dr. Mudge expressed a dislike to seeing himself put up in the printshops.

There is another portrait of Dr. Mudge, taken in later life by J. Northcote, bearing the date 1787.

The mezzotints of this were allowed to be sold.

Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository


Dr John Mudge's wives were

Mary Bulteel     c 1720   d  1760
Jane d 1766
Elizabeth Garrett d 1808

Mary was the daughter of James Bulteel 1676 - 1757 and his wife Mary Croker 1686 - 1741
Her mother Mary Croker was the daughter of Sir Courtney Croker MP 1660 - 1740 and Catherine Hillersdon.  Her grandfather John Croker and Hugh Croker were brothers.

Hugh Crocker and Agnes Bonville are 10th g.g. from Mary Fox, who was Dr John Mudge's mother.
Catherine Hillersdon was the daughter and heiress of Richard Hillersdon of Membland, Devon, who was an MP

Tabitha Croker was the daughter of George Croker 1628 - 1697 and Antice Tripe 1632 -1695
George Croker was the son of Francis Croker 1584 - 1659 and Thomasine Pascoe 1595 - 1630
Francis Croker was the son of Hugh Croker 1552 - 1614 and Agnes Bonville 1569 - 1628         10gg

 
The Bulteel Family

In c.1676, James Bulteel the 2nd s. of Samuel Bulteel (d. 1682) of Tavistock.  educ. I. Temple 1694.  m. 1 Oct. 1718, Mary, da. and h. of Courtenay Croker*, 1s. 1da.  suc. John Modyford Hele at Flete 1716.

Radford was later inherited by a branch of the Bulteel family of Flete in the parish of Holbeton, Devon, which changed its name to Harris-Bulteel. Their tenure ended in debt, fraud and imprisonment. The earliest recorded ancestor of the Bulteel family in England is Samuel Bulteel (died 1682) of Tavistock in Devon, a Huguenot refugee from France, whose son was James Bulteel (1676–1757) of Tavistock, MP for Tavistock 1703-8 and 1711–15, who married Mary Crocker, daughter and heiress of Courtenay Crocker (died 1740), MP, of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, the last male of the senior branch of the ancient Crocker family. Another possible relative was John Bulteel (died 1669), MP for Lostwithiel, Cornwall in 1661 and 1669, a friend of Samuel Pepys and secretary to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and cousin of John Bulteel the writer and translator.

James Bulteel inherited the estate of Fleet (alias Fleet Damarell), one of the finest estates in Devon, under the will of Richard Hele (died 1709) of Flete, who was no blood relation.
James's son was John Bulteel (1733–1801), who in 1757 purchased the estate of Membland, in the parish of Holbeton. Membland, in about 1877, and the manor of Revelstoke were purchased by Edward Baring (1828–1897), who in 1885 was elevated to the peerage as "Baron Revelstoke of Membland".

He was senior partner of Barings Bank, which had originated in nearby Exeter, Devon. In 1861 he had married Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel (died 1892), a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, Holbeton, the adjoining estate, MP for South Devon 1832–4 and Sheriff of Devon in 1841. Thus the two banking dynasties of Baring and Bulteel, both founded in Devonshire and both destined for ignominious collapse, became linked.

John Bulteel II  1763 - 1837 was therefore first cousin of the children of Rev John Mudge and Mary Bulteel.
He was the son and heir of John II Bulteel (1763–1837) of Flete in the parish of Holbeton and of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, by his wife Elizabeth Perring (d.1835), whose monument survives in the chancel of All Saints Church, Holbeton, daughter of Thomas Perring (1732–1791), a merchant of Modbury in Devon and of London. Thomas's brother was Peter Perring of Membland, a member of the Council at Madras, who made a fortune in the East India Company, and purchased Membland from John I Bulteel (1733–1801), father of John II. John II Bulteel was Sheriff of Devon in 1807/8.

 His earliest recorded ancestor in England was Samuel Bulteel (d.1682) of Tavistock in Devon, a Huguenot refugee from France, whose son was James Bulteel (1676–1757) of Tavistock, MP for Tavistock 1703-8 and 1711–15, who married Mary Crocker, daughter and heiress of Courtenay Crocker (d.1740), MP, of Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton, Devon, the last male of the senior branch of the ancient Crocker family. Another possible relative was John Bulteel (d.1669), MP for Lostwithiel, Cornwall in 1661 and 1669, a friend of Samuel Pepys and secretary to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and cousin of John Bulteel the writer and translator. James Bulteel inherited the estate of Fleet (alias Fleet Damarell), one of the finest estates in Devon, under the will of Richard Hele (d.1709) of Flete,[9] who was no blood relation. James's son was John Bulteel (1733–1801), who in 1757 purchased the estate of Membland, in the parish of Holbeton.

John Crocker Bulteel is then the 2nd cousin of Dr John Mudge and Mary Bulteel's children.

John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, Holbeton, in South Devon, was a Whig MP for South Devon 1832-4 and was Sheriff of Devon in 1841. He was Master of the Dartmoor Foxhounds and bred the finest pack of hounds in England.

In 1826 he married Lady Elizabeth Grey (d.1880), 2nd daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), by whom he had the following progeny:

• John Bulteel (1827–1897), son and heir, who in 1863 sold Fleet to an Australian sheep farmer] and moved his residence to Pamflete in the same parish of Holbeton. Fleet was repurchased by his brother-in-law Henry Bingham Mildmay (d.1905) of Shoreham Place in Kent, a partner in Barings Bank married to his sister Georgiana Bulteel (d.1899) and father of Francis Bingham Mildmay, 1st Baron Mildmay of Flete (1861–1947).

• Mary Elizabeth Bulteel (d.1916), eldest daughter, a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria, who in 1861 married Sir Henry Ponsonby (1825–1895), private secretary and equerry to Queen Victoria and Keeper of the Privy Purse.

• Georgiana Bulteel (d.1899), who in 1860 married Henry Bingham Mildmay (d.1905) of Shoreham Place in Kent, a partner in Barings Bank and was mother of Francis Bingham Mildmay, 1st Baron Mildmay of Flete (1861–1947). She was the heiress of Fleet, from which estate her son took his title. The 1st Baron's daughter and sole heiress was Hon. Helen Mildmay (born 1907) who had also inherited the estate of Mothecombe, in the parish of Holbeton, purchased in 1872 by her grandfather Henry Bingham Mildmay[17] (d.1905), where she lived with her husband Lt Commander Richard Mildmay-White, who in 1958 adopted the additional surname Mildmay by deed poll.

• Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel (d.1892), who in 1861 married Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke (1828–1897) of Membland in the parish of Holbeton, who was senior partner of Barings Bank, which had originated in Exeter, Devon. Membland had been purchased in 1757 by John I Bulteel (1733–1801) (grandfather of John Crocker Bulteel) and was promptly sold by him to Peter Perring (d.1796) of Modbury (uncle of Elizabeth Perring the wife of John Crocker Bulteel), who had made a fortune in the East Indies[19] and whose heir was his nephew Sir John Perring, 1st Baronet (1765–1831) of Membland, senior partner of Perrings Bank and Lord Mayor of London in 1803.

His bank failed in the Panic of 1825 after which he sold his estates. Membland and the manor of Revelstoke were purchased by a member of the Baring family, of whom Edward Baring, husband of Louisa Bulteel, was created in 1885 Baron Revelstoke of Membland.

 Lady Elizabeth Grey (d.1880), wife of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) of Fleet, engraving by Henry Bryan Hall, after William Say, published 1841; National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D32379

John Crocker Bulteel, depicted in his hunting attire with two of his favourite foxhounds, watercolour by John Frederick Lewis (1805–1876), private collection[1]

---

[1] Wikipedia