A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
LORD VISCOUNT SCUDAMORE. 
Born February 16th, 1600 old style, 1601 new style. 
Died May 9th, 1671. 
Created a Baronet June i, 1620, 
AND MADE BARON SCUDAMORE OF DROMORE, 
and Viscount Scudamore of Sligo in 
Ireland, by letters Patent, July 2nd, 1628. 
“ It was by the plain Industry of one Harris (a Fruiterer to King Henry the Eighth i) that 
the Fields and Environs of about thirty Towns in Kent only, were planted with Fruit, to the 
universal benefit and general improvement of that County to this day; as by the noble 
example of my Lord Scudamor, and of some other Public-spirited Gentlemen in those Parts, 
all Herefordshire is become, in a manner, but one entire Orchard! 
(Evelyn?s “ Pomonaf preface.) 
“ If men deserve to be commended for their promoting all useful Parts of Knowledge, he 
certainly deserves no small Commendation, who by his great Example, was the occasion of 
making his native County The Garden of England, for Pleasure and Delight: and of bringing 
no small Profit and Advantage to it.” (Gibson's Door, &c.,p. 71.) 
From Norman times to the present day, the name and family of Scudamore have been 
distinguished. The brief touches which History affords, and the Records of early times still available, 
are very suggestive of interest both general and local; but this is not the place to enter into the 
annals of this ancient race. Its worthies must all be passed by, until we come to Sir John Scudamore 
Knt., the grandfather of Lord Scudamore. He was Standard Bearer to Queen Elizabeth’s Honourable 
Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, and the holder of other honourable offices about the Court, and 
in his native county of Herefordshire. 1 He is alluded to here, for his great intimacy and friendship 
with Sir Thomas Bodley, and for his generous gifts to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. His son, 
Sir James Scudamore, Lord Scudamore’s father, was also a very distinguished man, even in the 
1 Sir John Scudamore’s portrait in his official costume, or uniform, is still at Holme Lacy. In Guillim’s “ Heraldry ” 
2nd Edit, p. 416(163%), it is said of him “This noble Knight hath deserved honourably of his country, by procuring, 
together with his worthy Lady, the building of a goodly bridge near unto Rosse over the River Wye.” 
