Robert Dudley was a pioneer of new industries; interested in many things from tapestries to mining, he was engaged in the first joint stock companies in English history.
The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor.
On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis.
Due to his interests in trade and exploration, as well as his debts, his contacts with the London city fathers were intense.
He was an enthusiastic investor in the Muscovy Company and the Merchant Adventurers.
English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester.
This he did in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were loss-making).
He took much interest in the careers of John Hawkins and Francis Drake from early on, and was a principal backer of Drake's circumnavigation of the world.
Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage.
Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the Galleon Leicester, which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton, but also under Drake.
As much as profit, English seapower was on his mind, and accordingly Leicester became a friend and leading supporter of Dom António, the exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne after 1580.
Robert Dudley was a pioneer of new industries; interested in many things from tapestries to mining, he was engaged in the first joint stock companies in English history. The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor. On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis. Due to his interests in trade and exploration, as well as his debts, his contacts with the London city fathers were intense. He was an enthusiastic investor in the Muscovy Company and the Merchant Adventurers. English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester. This he did in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were loss-making). He took much interest in the careers of John Hawkins and Francis Drake from early on, and was a principal backer of Drake's circumnavigation of the world. Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage. Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the Galleon Leicester, which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton, but also under Drake. As much as profit, English seapower was on his mind, and accordingly Leicester became a friend and leading supporter of Dom António, the exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne after 1580.
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester