Philip Ludlow

Philip Ludlow was buried in Westminster Abbey on 20th September 1650, in the south ambulatory. His stone, engraved in the 19th century, reads simply:

PHILIP LUDLOW 1650

He was the fifth son of Sir Henry Ludlow M.P. (d.1643) of Maiden Bradley in the county of Wiltshire and his wife Elizabeth (Phelips) and was born in 1628. Ludlow’s family had been founded by a Lancastrian household official who acquired property in Wiltshire in the mid 15th century.

Philip's brother was the celebrated Republican Lt. General Edmund Ludlow, one of the judges at the trial of King Charles I. Another of his brothers, Robert, died of wounds in 1643 and a cousin Gabriel was killed in 1644.

Philip died of fever on 13th August 1650 aboard the ship Sephier when he was commander in chief of the fleet of Brazil merchant ships. He left all his goods to his brother Nathaniel. His will described him as "late of the City of Westminster, bachelor". He was probably buried in the Abbey due to the influence of his brother Edmund who was on the Committee of Lords and Commons who administered the Abbey from 1645 and during the Commonwealth period.

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004