Roger Ludlow
Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
In office 1634–1635
1st, 4th, and 10th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
In office 1639–1640
In office 1642–1643
In office 1648–1649
Personal details
Born	March 1590 Dinton, Wiltshire, England
Died	1664 (aged 73–74) Dublin, Ireland
Spouse(s)	Mary Cogan
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Religion	Puritan, Congregationalist

Roger Ludlow (1590–1664) was one of the founders of the Colony of Connecticut.

Early life and emigration[link]

He was born in March 1590 in Dinton, Wiltshire, England.^[1] Roger was the second son of Sir Thomas Ludlow of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire^[2] and Jane Pyle, sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle.^[3] He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1609 or 1610, and was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in 1612.

Ludlow sailed to America in May 1630 aboard the ship Mary & John with his wife Mary Cogan, a sister-in-law of Governor John Endicott of Massachusetts.^[4] They settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts, where they remained for five years. During that period he was chosen magistrate in the Court of Assistants for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was elected as Deputy Governor in 1634. During this time Ludlow successfully negotiated the first treaty between the English and the Pequot.^[5] In 1635 he was defeated by John Haynes for Governor.

Settlement of Connecticut[link]

In 1635 Roger Ludlow joined with other Puritans and Congregationalists who were dissatisfied with the rate of Anglican reforms, and sought to establish an ecclesiastical society subject to their own rules and regulations. The Massachusetts General Court granted them permission to settle the cities of Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford in the area now known as Connecticut.^[6] The Ludlows settled into Windsor.^[3] However, ownership of the lands for the new towns along the Connecticut River was called into dispute by the English holders of the Warwick Patent of 1631 that had been granted by Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick.^[7] The Massachusetts General Court established the March Commission to mediate the dispute between the Connecticut colony and the Saybrook Colony, and named Roger Ludlow as its head. The Commission named 8 magistrates from the Connecticut towns to implement a legal system. The March Commission expired in March 1636, after which time the settlers continued to self-govern.^[8]

In late 1636 and early 1637 the burgeoning Connecticut colony faced armed conflict in the Pequot War. The Connecticut towns decided to send a force of more than 70 soldiers along with Narragansett and Mohegan collaborators into an attack upon a Pequot settlement on May 26, 1637. While Ludlow did not participate in what became known as the Mystic massacre, his role in the General Court meant that he took part in the decision to send the force.^[3] After the destruction at Mystic Ludlow did leave the Windsor area to pursue Sassacus and other Pequot survivors, first to Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut river, then westward toward the Mattabesset village known as "Sasqua" or "Unquowa". On July 13, 1637 the battle in swamps around Unquowa signalled the final military defeat of the remaining Pequots.

On May 29, 1638 Ludlow wrote to Massachusetts Governor Winthrop that the colonists wanted to "unite ourselves to walk and lie peaceably and lovingly together." Ludlow was a framer of a document called the Fundamental Orders, which was adopted on January 14, 1639. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is the world's first written constitution for a self-governing people.

Roger Ludlow was a magistrate in 1637 and 1638, and was then named as the first Deputy Governor of Connecticut. He was also chosen as a Magistrate in 1640, and every year from that date until he left the colony in 1654, except in 1642 and 1648, when he was again chosen Deputy Governor. In 1643 Ludlow was one of the representatives from Connecticut in the negotiations which led to the con-federation of the colonies.

Founding of Fairfield[link]

In early 1639 Ludlow's political rival from Massachusetts John Haynes who had since settled in Connecticut was elected Governor of Connecticut. Ludlow then chose to take leave from Hartford and Windsor and obtained a charter from the General Court to begin a settlement at "Pequannocke" (present day Bridgeport). He left with a group of like minded settlers from Windsor, Watertown, and Concord to purchase property along the coast of Long Island Sound west of the New Haven Colony. While on this task Ludlow recalled the attraction of the salt marshes west of the Pequonnock River near "Unquowa" and purchased land there from the native Sachem and founded the town of Fairfield, Connecticut. Ludlow settled his family in the new town of Fairfield, but returned to Hartford in the fall of 1639. In a session of the General Court held October 10, 1639 Ludlow was censured and fined by the Court for having exceeded the terms of the charter granted to settle areas that were to have been east of Fairfield. Governor Haynes and Thomas Wells visited Fairfield to investigate the settlement and apparently found that it was acceptable.^[3]

Purchase of Norwalk by Harry Townsend, a WPA mural in Norwalk City Hall

The purchase of property and settlement in the coastal area may have been part of an effort to obtain a Connecticut title to the area instead of allowing the land to be sold to the Dutch from New Netherland or the New Haven Colonists. Early the following year in 1640 Ludlow purchased land from the Siwanoy Sachem Mahackemo located still further west in an area that would become Norwalk, Connecticut.

In 1646 Ludlow was asked by the Connecticut General Court to draft a comprehensive set of laws "grounded in precedent and authority and fitted to the necessities of the new civilization." The result was “The Code of Laws of 1650”, or Ludlow Code, which is archived in the Connecticut Colonial Records.

Having been tried for slandering Mrs. Thomas Staples of Fairfield (the accusation was that Ludlow had said that she was a witch) and lost as well as being appointed commander of a militia to defend Fairfield against invasion by the Dutch, Ludlow had grown weary of colonial life. He left Fairfield in April or May 1654.^[9] He first sailed to Virginia Colony to visit his brother George who had settled there. Then Ludlow left Virginia to return to England and made it to Ireland by September 1654. Ludlow settled at Dublin and in November 1654 was appointed to serve the Council as an adjudicator of matters relating to property law. The appointment may have been made at the request of Oliver Cromwell.^[10] He served on the commission from 1654 to 1658. A new commission was appointed and Ludlow was again assigned to it in 1658. He was also appointed to the post of Master in Chancery in Ireland.

He was a resident and member of St. Michan's Church in Dublin. His wife Mary died and was buried on June 3, 1664 according to records kept at the parish church. Parish records of his death in Dublin (presumed to have taken place between 1664 and 1668) no longer exist.^[3]

Roger Ludlowe Middle School and Fairfield Ludlowe High School, both in Fairfield, are named for him.

Roger Ludlow was a descendant of English royalty tracing his genealogy back through the first three hundred years of the then ruling Plantagenet family of England, starting with the Norman Conquest by William, Earl of Normandy in 1066. All of Rogers ancestors were monarchs from William, in 1066 through Edward I who died in 1307 when his son, Edward II assumed the throne. Rogers direct lineage was through one of the daughters of Edward I, Princess Elizabeth. The one exception to the above was Matilda, daughter of Henry I, grand daughter of William the Conqueror who was chosen to be monarch but overridden by the "Council" because they felt that women were unfit to rule.

See also[link]

• Great Migration (Puritan)
• List of Lieutenant Governors of Connecticut
• Saybrook Colony
• Anglo-Dutch Wars

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Taylor, John M. (1900). Roger Ludlow The Colonial Lawmaker. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's, Knickerbocker Press. 
• Cohn, Henry S. (1988). Connecticut Constitutional History, 1636-1776. 
• Fennell, Christopher Fennell (1998). Plymouth Colony Legal Structure. 
• Gocher, W. H. (1904). Wadsworth, or the Charter Oak. 

Coordinates: 52°22′05″N 2°43′03″W / 52.3681°N 2.7176°W / 52.3681; -2.7176

Ludlow
Wintertime Ludlow as seen from Whitcliffe
Ludlow  Ludlow shown within Shropshire
Population	10,500
OS grid reference	SO517750
- London	155.6mi
Unitary authority	Shropshire
Ceremonial county	Shropshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LUDLOW
Postcode district	SY8
Dialling code	01584
Police	West Mercia
Fire	Shropshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Ludlow
List of places: UK • England • Shropshire

Ludlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Welsh border and in the Welsh Marches. Located along the A49 road about 12 miles north of Leominster, it lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of 350 acres (142 ha) and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place. From there the streets of the medieval walled town slope downward to the River Teme, and northward toward the River Corve. The town is in a sheltered spot beneath the Clee Hills which are clearly visible from the town.^[1] With a population of around 10,000, Ludlow is the largest town in South Shropshire and home to the southern area committee of Shropshire Council.^[2]

Ludlow has nearly 500 listed buildings.^[3] They include some fine examples of medieval and Tudor-style half-timbered buildings including the Feathers Hotel. The parish church, St Laurence Church, is the largest in the county.^[4]

Toponymy[link]

The placename "Lodelowe" (Welsh: Llwydlo) was in use for this site before 1138 and comes from the Old English "hlud-hlaw".^[5] At the time this section of the River Teme contained rapids, and so the hlud of Ludlow came from "the loud waters", while hlaw meant hill.^[5] Thus Ludlow meant a place on a hill by a loud river. Some time around the 12th century weirs were added along the river, taming these rapid flows. Later in the same century the larger outer bailey was added to the castle.

Though the settlement became known as Ludlow, Fouke le Fitz Waryn a 13th-century poem states that it was called Dinham "for a very long time".^[6] The western part of the town immediately south of the castle retains this name, and many writers assume it is Saxon in origin, and the suffix -ham occurs in Shropshire. Another alternative is that the town took its name from Josce de Dinan who controlled the town's castle in the 12th century.^[7]

History[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Medieval history[link]

Ludlow Castle was built in the late 11th century.

The town is close to Wales and also very close to the county border between Shropshire and Herefordshire. It was included in the latter in the Domesday Book. This strategic location invested it with importance in medieval times and its large castle remains largely intact. Ludlow Castle was the seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches and a temporary home to several holders of the title Prince of Wales, including King Edward IV and Arthur Tudor, who died there in 1502.

The site features heavily in the folk-story of Fulk FitzWarin, outlawed Lord of Whittington, Shropshire and a possible inspiration for the Robin Hood legend. Fulk is brought up in the castle of Joce De Dynan, and fights for his master against Sir Walter de Lacy – these battles are also the source of the story of Marion de la Bruyere, the betrayed lover whose ghost is still said to be heard crying "Goodbye, Cruel World!" as she plummets from the castle's turrets.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the Domesday Book survey Ludlow was the location of the unoccupied large Stanton Manor, a possession of Walter de Lacy. Walter's son Roger de Lacy began the construction of a castle on the crest of the hill between about 1086 and 1094, forming what is now the inner bailey. Between about 1090 and 1120, the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene was built inside the walls, and by 1130 the Great Tower was added to form the gatehouse. The castle was an important border fortification along the Welsh Marches, and played a significant role in local, regional and national conflicts such as the Owain Glyndŵr rebellion, the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War.

Feathers Hotel, Ludlow

A view of Ludlow Market, which is situated in Castle Square, taken from the tower of St Laurence's Church.

Marcher town[link]

The town also provided a useful source of income for successive Marcher Lords, based on rents, fines, and tolls. They developed the town on a regular grid pattern, although this was adapted somewhat to match the local topography. The first road was probably High Street, which formed the wide market place to the east of the castle gates. The town continued to grow, joining an old north-south road, now called Corve Street to the north and Old Street to the south. Mill Street and the wide Broad Street were added later.

The town was licensed to build a defensive wall in 1233. It was constructed about the central part of the community with four main gates and three postern gates. The castle complex continued to expand (a Great Hall, kitchen and living quarters were added) and it gained a reputation as a fortified palace. In 1306 it passed through marriage to the ambitious Earl of March, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Queen Isabella and her son, the young Edward III, were entertained at the castle in 1328.

The town prospered, and sustained population of about 2,000 for several centuries. It was a market town; market day was held on every Thursday throughout the 15th century. In particular, it served as a centre for the sale of wool and cloth. It was home to various trades, and in 1372 boasted 12 trade guilds including metalworkers, shoemakers, butchers, drapers, mercers, tailors, cooks and bakers. There were also merchants of moderate wealth in the town and especially wool merchants, such as Laurence of Ludlow, who lived at nearby Stokesay Castle. The collection and sale of wool and the manufacture of cloth continued to be the primary source of wealth until the 17th century. Drovers roads from Wales led to the town.

This prosperity is expressed in stone and stained-glass as St. Laurence's parish church. It is a wool church and the largest in Shropshire. Despite the presence of some Decorated work it is largely Perpendicular in style.^[8]

The town also contained several coaching inns such as the Old Angel on Broad Street, public houses and ale houses, leading to court records of some alcohol-induced violence and a certain reputation for excess. Several coaching inns were constructed to accommodate travellers by stagecoach and mail coach. The oldest surviving inn today is the 15th century Bull Hotel on the Bull Ring.

During the Wars of the Roses, Richard, Duke of York, seized the castle and turned it into one of his main strongholds. The Lancastrian forces captured Ludlow in 1459, but at the end of the conflict in 1461 the castle became property of the Crown and passed to Richard's son, Edward IV. The town was then incorporated as a borough. Edward set up the Council of Wales and the Marches in 1473 and sent his son, Edward, Prince of Wales, to live there, as nominal head of the Council. It was at Ludlow that the prince heard the news of his father's death and was himself proclaimed King Edward V of England.

Under Henry VII the castle continued as the headquarters of the Council of Wales and served as the administration centre for Wales and the counties along the border, the Welsh Marches. During this period, when the town served as the effective capital of Wales, it was home to many messengers of the king, various clerks and lawyers for settling legal disputes. The town also provided a winter home for local gentry, during which time they attended the Council court sessions. Henry VII also sent his heir Prince Arthur to Ludlow, where he was joined briefly by his wife Catherine of Aragon later to become wife to Henry VIII, who was living in Castle Lodge, Ludlow at the time. Ludlow Castle was therefore the site of perhaps the most controversial wedding night in English history, when Catherine's claim that the marriage was never consummated became central to the dispute concerning Henry VIII and Catherine's annulment in 1531.

After 1610, the cloth industry declined but the wealth of the town was little affected until about 1640, when the activities of the Council were suspended and the town's population promptly fell by 20%.

Eventually, the Council resumed and except for brief interludes, Ludlow continued to host the Council until 1689, when it was abolished by William and Mary. The castle then fell into decay. The structure was poorly maintained and stone was pillaged. In 1772 demolition was mooted, but it was instead decided to lease the buildings. Later still it was purchased by the Earl of Powis, and together, he and his wife directed the transformation of the castle grounds.

Later history[link]

From 1760, the population began to undergo a significant expansion. New structures were built along the outskirts that would become slums in the 19th century and later, torn down.

In 1832 Dr Thomas Lloyd, the Ludlow doctor and amateur geologist, met Roderick Murchison at Ludford Corner to study the rocks exposed along the River Teme and on Whitcliffe, advancing Murchison's theory for a Silurian System that he was to publish in 1839.^[9] Immediately above the topmost layer of the marine rock sequence forming Murchison's Silurian period was a thin layer of dark sand containing numerous remains of early fish, especially their scales, along with plant debris, spores and microscopic mites. In contrast to the underlying sediments of the Ludlow Series which were deposited in a shallow warm sea some 400 million years ago, the Ludlow Bone Bed represents terrestrial (land) conditions and thus a fundamental change in the landscape. At the time, this was believed to be the earliest occurrence of life on land. Murchison thus took the Ludlow Bone Bed as the base of his Devonian Period, although over a century later this boundary was to be moved a little higher, the overlying rocks being ascribed to the Pridoli. The science of Geology has taken a number of local names from these studies and now applies them worldwide, in recognition of the importance of this area to scientific understanding, for example Ludlow Series and Whitcliffe Formationian. The site is now an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and still attracts international studies.^[10]

By the late 20th century, the town had seen a growth in tourism, leading to the appearance of many antique dealers, as well as art dealers and independent bookshops (now mostly gone). A long battle of words between local activists and local companies and Tesco was eventually solved when the mega retailer obtained planning permission to build a supermarket on Corve Street, but only after agreeing to conform to the architectural demands of the local council. The building is designed in order to follow the shape of the old town plans with a curving roof. Bodenham's, a clothing retailer, has been trading from a 600-year-old timbered building since 1860 and is one of the oldest stores in Britain.^[11]

In 2004 the council was granted funding from Advantage West Midlands to build a new Eco-Park on the outskirts of the town on the other side of the A49, with space for new "environmentally friendly" office buildings and a park & ride facility.

More construction work began in 2006 on the same section of by-pass by Bennett's development company on a much-debated piece of land on the town's fringe known as The Foldgate. The land has now been drawn up for commercial use with a petrol filling station, Travelodge hotel and pub chain pub/restaurant, opened in late 2008. The previous plans to include a number of "high-street" stores was thrown out when an independent official branded it "damaging" and "out-of-place" with the character of the old town.

Ludlow was described by Country Life as "the most vibrant small town in England."^[12]

Geography[link]

Destinations from Ludlow

	Clun, Bishop's Castle	Craven Arms, Church Stretton, Shrewsbury	Bridgnorth, Highley, Telford West Midlands conurbation
	Brampton Bryan, Bucknell, Knighton		Cleehill, Cleobury Mortimer, Bewdley, Kidderminster
		Ludlow    East
	Presteigne, New Radnor	Ludford, Leominster, Hereford	Tenbury Wells, Bromyard, Worcester

The River Teme at Ludlow

R. G. Conzen remarked of Ludlow "Its composite medieval town plan and a history of eight and a half centuries with several periods of considerable importance have endowed its Old Town with an historically well-stratified and richly textured landscape."^[13]

Transport[link]

Ludlow railway station

On 4 February 1980, the £4.7m single carriage way bypass road was opened by Kenneth Clarke, which had been built to the east of the town, diverting the A49. This allowed heavy lorry traffic to avoid the town centre, significantly reducing noise levels and delays. The town centre was built for the era of the horse & cart and there are long running problems with motor traffic and car parking. A number of proposals have been offered to remedy these problems.

The new Ludlow Eco-Park situated on the outskirts of the town, along the A49, includes a new Park & Ride facility, with a frequent bus service to and from the town centre.

On 26 June 2007, rising flood water caused Burway Bridge in Ludlow to collapse, severing a gas main and causing 20 homes in nearby Corve Street to be evacuated.^[14] The bridge is now replaced with a new construction.

Ludlow railway station is located about five minutes walk from the town centre. Arriva Trains Wales provide regular services to Shrewsbury, Hereford, Newport, Cardiff and Manchester.

Population[link]

The 2001 UK census recorded 9,548 people living in Ludlow parish. A further 395 live in the neighbouring Ludford parish. In 1377, poll tax was levied against 1,172 of the parish's residents.^[15] By this measure, Ludlow was the 35th most populous town in England.^[16]

• 1971 – 7,470
• 1987 – 7,450

Culture[link]

Festivals and fayres[link]

The Ludlow Festival has been held annually since 1960, during the end of June and the start of July each year.^[19] An open area within the castle serves as the stage and backdrop for various Shakespearean plays, while a number of supporting events at various venues include classical and pop/rock concerts, varied musicians, lecture talks from public figures, and entertainers.

The annual Ludlow Marches Festival of Food & Drink is a food festival that takes place in and around Ludlow in September. Centred on Ludlow Castle, where over 150 local, small food producers showcase and sell their wares, the three-day event involves the town centre in food and drink trails including the famous "Sausage Trail".^[20]

The Medieval Christmas Fayre is another annual event in Ludlow taking place during late November, again centred on Ludlow Castle and the market square.^[21]

Gastronomy[link]

Ludlow has become a gastronomic centre and at one point was the only town in England with three Michelin-starred restaurants^[22] (a distinction lost to Bray-on-Thames in Berkshire), but Ludlow still holds two Michelin starred establishments, and eight AA Rosette starred restaurants. The town hosts the prestigious annual Ludlow food festival. Ludlow is the first UK member of Cittaslow or "slow food" movement,^[23][24] and is at the forefront of the UK's Cittaslow slow movement network. It supports three traditional butchers, four bakers, a regular farmers market and a range of specialist food shops. The town has its own brewery, which has been producing real ale (using local hops) since 2006.^[25]

Arts[link]

The town is also home to an arts and cinema centre, The Ludlow Assembly Rooms, that hosts live music, theatre, stand up comedy and talks. It also acts as an arts community centre, has a visual arts gallery, and on most evenings, shows a film, from a wide variety of genres (including classic, arthouse, and blockbuster).^[26] Ludlow has featured in movies and TV programmes including Tom Sharpe's Blott on the Landscape and 90s TV adaptations of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling and Moll Flanders.

Ludlow has connections with a number of figures in the arts – most notably, Alfred Edward Housman, poet and author of "A Shropshire Lad" (his ashes buried in the graveyard of St. Laurence's Church and marked by a cherry tree). Stanley J. Weyman, the novelist known as the "Prince of Romance", was also born in Ludlow. The naval historian and novelist Captain Geoffrey Bennett (Sea Lion) lived in Ludlow after his retirement in 1974 up to his death in 1983 and his ashes were interred in the parish churchyard.

The actor John Challis (Boycie in Only Fools & Horses) lives near Ludlow, as did Pete Postlethwaite. The actress Holly Davidson (from Casualty and The Bill) was born locally in 1980. Hollie Robertson, winner of the BBC's Strictly Dance Fever in 2006 is also from Ludlow.

Sport[link]

The town also has a football and rugby union team competing in the Midland leagues and a cricket team sporting its 1st and 2nd XI teams in the Shropshire Premier Cricket League and its 3rd and 4th XI in the Shropshire Cricket League Division 5 and Division 6 repspectively. The cricket pitch has a picturesque setting with the castle, church and surrounding hills and countryside clearly visible. Ludlow Racecourse and golf club are situated just off the A49 road a mile north of the town.^[27]

Twinning[link]

• La Ferté-Macé, France (since 1992)^[28]
• San Pietro in Cariano, Italy (since 1986)^[29]

Notable people[link]

Notable people associated with the town include Charles Badham, a Victorian scholar and professor at Sydney University. Sir Charles Hastings, a pioneering Victorian doctor and founder of the BMA, was born in Ludlow, and grew up in Worcestershire. Baron Rees of Ludlow, the current Astronomer Royal is associated with the town, and Anthony Howard, a senior British political journalist and commentator had a home there.

Born near the town in 1836 was John Marston, the founder of the Sunbeam racing car and motorcycle company. Also born in proximity to Ludlow was Henry Hill Hickman, a very early pioneer of anaesthetics, who was born at Lady Halton, near Bromfield in 1800. Later in the same century, in 1831, Pictorialist photographer Henry Peach Robinson was born in the town.

Sir John Bridgeman, a Chief Justice of The Marches in the 17th century is buried in St. Laurence's church, within a tomb monument attributed to Francesco Fanelli.

Captain Geoffrey Bennett DSC, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, naval officer and also a well-known author, writing novels as ‘Sea Lion’ and naval histories under his own name, retired to a cottage in central Ludlow in 1976, dying there in 1983.

Captain Adrian Jones M.V.O., M.R.C.V.S., F.R.B.S., the well-known sculptor. He has many works throughout the world, particularly the Peace Quadriga on the Wellington arch in London.

See also[link]

• Bishop of Ludlow

Citations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ludlow

• Geograph – photos of Ludlow and surrounding areas

Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character, created by "Sapper", a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile (1888–1937), and the hero of a series of novels published from 1920 to 1954.

Drummond[link]

The Bulldog Drummond stories follow Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, D.S.O., M.C., a wealthy former WWI officer of the fictional His Majesty's Royal Loamshire Regiment, who, after the First World War, spends his new-found leisure time as a private detective. He places an advertisement in the local newspaper-

Demobilised Officer finding peace incredibly tedious would welcome diversion. Legitimate if possible; but crime of a humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential.^[1]

The character is partly based on McNeile's friend Gerard Fairlie, who carried on writing Drummond books after McNeile's death.^[2]

Drummond is a proto-James Bond figure and a version of the imperial adventurers depicted by the likes of John Buchan. In terms of the detective genre, the first Bulldog Drummond novel was published after the Sherlock Holmes stories, the Nayland Smith/Fu Manchu novels and Richard Hannay's first three adventures including The Thirty-Nine Steps. The character first appeared in the novel Bulldog Drummond (1920), and this was followed by a lengthy series of books and adaptations for films, radio and television.

Peterson[link]

The first four books deal with Drummond up against his arch-enemy Carl Peterson (who is also a master of disguise and uses many aliases). He is killed in the fourth book, The Final Count. Peterson is in part modelled on earlier types of super-villain, including Professor Moriarty, the enemy of Sherlock Holmes. This is additionally signalled by Drummond's suggestion, in The Third Round, that they fight a duel on a glacier, recalling the contest between Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.^[4] In his complex schemes for world-domination, he is also reminiscent of Sax Rohmer's character, Fu Manchu.

The title of the fifth Bulldog Dummond book, The Female of the Species refers to Rudyard Kipling's line; "the female of the species is more deadly than the male". Drummond's adversary here is Peterson's (presumed—their relationship is never explicitly stated) mistress Irma, who in this and a number of following books seeks to kill Drummond in revenge for the death of her lover.

Influences[link]

Bulldog Drummond undoubtedly had influences on pulp heroes, notably Doc Savage.^{[citation needed]} Like Savage, Drummond was a muscular man with a group of followers who helped him in his adventures. But unlike him Drummond was not raised to fight crime, was not a doctor, was not a super-scientist, and did not use advanced technology.

In The Black Gang, Drummond and his men imprison a collection of saboteurs on a Scottish island under the command of a sergeant-major, who institutes a "boarding-school" regime of physical work and exercise—a precursor of the "short, sharp shock" treatment advocated by some commentators for criminals.

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, acknowledged that Drummond was an influence on Bond.^[5]

Novels[link]

After Herman Cyril McNeile's death in 1937, his friend Gerard Fairlie continued to write stories based on the character.

• Bulldog Drummond (1920, by McNeile)
• The Black Gang (1922, by McNeile)
• The Third Round (1924, by McNeile)
• The Final Count (1926, by McNeile) "A scientist has invented a poison which will end war. He is seized, along with large quantities of the poison (which causes instantaneous death wherever it is sprayed). The kidnapper, an old enemy of Bulldog Drummond, intends to use the deadly invention for his own foul ends."^[6]
• The Female of the Species (1928, by McNeile) "Carl Peterson, a long-time villain, has been killed by Bulldog Drummond but Peterson's mistress escapes and turns the tables on the detective. She kidnaps Drummond's bride and plays a nerve-jangling game of hide-and-seek."^[6]
• Temple Tower (1929, by McNeile)
• The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1932, by McNeile)
• Knock-Out (1933, by McNeile)
• Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1935, by McNeile)
• The Challenge (1937, by McNeile)
• Bulldog Drummond on Dartmoor (1938, by Gerard Fairlie)
• Bulldog Drummond Attacks (1939, by Fairlie)
• Captain Bulldog Drummond (1945, by Fairlie)
• Bulldog Drummond Stands Fast (1947, by Fairlie)
• Hands Off Bulldog Drummond (1949, by Fairlie)
• Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951, by Fairlie)
• The Return of the Black Gang (1954, by Fairlie)
• Deadlier Than the Male (1966, by Henry Reymond)—from an original story by Jimmy Sangster
• Some Girls Do (1969, by Henry Reymond)—based on the film script by David Osborn & Liz Charles-Williams

Stage adaptations[link]

• Bulldog Drummond (1925, by Gerald du Maurier and McNeile)

Short stories by McNeile[link]