ABSTRACT
Dudley's movements in the year or two following the loss of his business, and his homes in Fleet Street and Langley Marish, are obscure. A peculiar entry in the Post Office London Directory for 1819 calls him 'Engineer in Philosophical Instruments and Globes to His Majesty, H.R.H. the Prince Regent, and to all the Royal Family', at 10 Waterloo Place, near Carlton House. The first dated letter to survive, but not the first that Dudley wrote to the earl, is inscribed 'October 1819' (no day). It is replete with underlining and long dashes. Dudley's own note is endorsed 'Letters returned dated Augt 1818 & Oct. 1819', though the particular letter of October 1819 quoted above was evidently missed, or it would not be in the file. At about this time (1819) Dudley, searching perhaps for some means of earning a living, suddenly switched his attention to medical applications of electricity.
