CARLETON, DUDLEY, 1ST VISCOUNT DORCHESTER, son of Anthony Carleton, Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, and his second wife Jocosa, dau. of John Goodwin, Winchington, Bucks.; b. 10 Mar 1573/4; adm.; QS ; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1591, matr. 11 Feb 1591/2, Westminster Student to 1607; BA 1595; MA 1600 (incorp. Camb. 1626); DCL 31 Aug 1636; Secretary to Sir Thomas Parry, Ambassador to Paris, 1602; MP St. Mawes Mar 1603/4 - Feb 1610/1, Hastings Jan 1625/6 - May 1626; ? adm. Grays Inn 21 Feb 1604/5; Secretary to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland; suspected of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, but succeeded in clearing himself while under arrest; Ambassador to Venice 1610-5, The Hague 1616-25; knighted Sep1610; Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1625-6; Privy Councillor 1626; Envoy to Paris 1626, The Hague 1626-8; created Baron Carleton 22 May 1626 and Viscount Dorchester 25 Jul 1628; Secretary of State from 18 Dec 1628; the most sagacious and successful British diplomat of his day; m. 1st, Nov 1607 Anne, dau. of George Gerrard, Dorney, Bucks., and step-dau. of Sir Henry Savile (founder of Savilian Professorship at Oxford); m. 2nd, 1630 Anne, widow of Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning, and dau. of Sir Henry Glemham, Little Glemham, Suffolk; d. 15 Feb 1631/2. Buried Westminster Abbey, monument in St. Paul’s Chapel. DNB.