Son and heir of Dudley Castle, co. Stafford, was born in Feb 1380 (aged seventeen years and three weeks on death of father), or a few days before 23 Mar 1379/80 (inquest into his inheritance from his great-grandmother Isabel).

In 1401 he did homage and had livery of the Barony of Dudley and other family lands (the first time they had been vested in a male heir since the death of his great-grandfather in 1359).