Philip Ludwell was born about 1637 in Bruton, Somerset, England, the son of Thomas and Jane (Cottington) Ludwell. According to Bishop Meade, he belonged to "an old and honorable family the original of them many ages since coming from Germany. "
Ludwell emigrated to Virginia about 1660, acquired two estates, "Rich Neck" and "Green Spring, " in James City County, and gave Bruton Parish its name. After serving as deputy for his brother, Thomas, who was secretary of the colony, he was made a member of the Governor's Council in March 1674/1675. Later he held the office of secretary for a short time. During Sir William Berkeley's administration as governor, Ludwell was one of those who petitioned for the pardon of Nathaniel Bacon, leader of the popular uprising known as Bacon's Rebellion, but when the disturbances were renewed, Ludwell espoused the cause of Berkeley and went with twenty-six armed men who captured Giles Bland and others implicated in the revolt. Because of his activities in this connection he was considered "rash and fiery" by the Lords of Trade and Plantations and deprived of his seat in the Council in 1679, but was reinstated the following year.
In 1686-1687 he led the resistance to levies made by the corrupt and unpopular governor, Lord Howard of Effingham. In consequence, charged with having "rudely and boldly disputed the King's authority, " he was suspended from the Council and then dismissed. Though elected to the House of Burgesses in 1688, as a suspended councillor he was not permitted to take his seat. The following year he was sent to England to present the Burgesses' charges against Howard, and obtained a series of instructions to the governor which were favorable to the colony.
On December 5, 1689, the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina elected Ludwell "Governor of that part of our province that lyes North and East of Cape Feare". His commission gave him power to appoint a deputy governor; and he appointed two in succession, Thomas Jarvis and John Harvey, himself spending most of his time in Virginia. His immediate predecessor in office, Seth Sothell, had been guilty of every manner of abuse, public and private, but, although he was instructed to inquire into these abuses, Ludwell seems to have given little time to such investigation. On November 2, 1691, his commission was altered to make him governor of the entire province of Carolina, and in 1692 he was given the hereditary title of cacique. While Ludwell was governor, Colonel John Gibbs (said to be a cousin of the Duke of Albemarle) put forth a proclamation claiming the governorship and denouncing the incumbent as a "Rascal, imposter & usurpr" and offering to do battle personally "as long as my Eye-lidds shall wagg" in any part of the King's Dominions, with "any of the boldest Heroe [sic] living in this or the next County" who should uphold Ludwell's title. Little attention was paid to the verbal vaporings of Gibbs; but when he seized two magistrates who were holding court, the Carolina colonists chased him back to Virginia. According to F. L. Hawks, the historian of North Carolina, "Ludwell understood the character and prejudices of the people thoroughly; and, as he was possessed of good sense and proper feeling, he had address enough, by harmlessly humoring their prejudices, gradually to restore a state of comparative peace, without the surrender of any important principle".
In 1694, however, the Proprietors recalled his commission, and he ultimately returned to England, where he died sometime after 1704.
Ludwell was twice married: first to Lucy Higginson, relict of Major Lewis Burwell and of Colonel William Bernard, and second, to the widow of Governor Berkeley (Frances Culpeper), whose first husband, Samuel Stephens, had been governor of Albemarle in Carolina. Among the descendants of Philip Ludwell by his first marriage was Hannah Ludwell who married Thomas Lee and became the mother of Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, Arthur, and William Lee.
