Thomas Rudd
Encyclopedia
Life
The eldest son of Thomas Rudd of Higham Ferrars, NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, he was born in 1583 or 1584. He served during his earlier years as a military engineer in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. On 10 July 1627 Charles I appointed him ‘chief engineer of all castles, forts, and fortifications within Wales,’ at a salary of £240 per annum. Subsequently he was appointed the king's principal engineer for fortifications, and in 1635 he visited Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in this capacity to settle a question between the governor and the admiralty as to the removal of some naval buildings which interfered with proposed fortifications. In 1638 he visited Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
and Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
at the request of the governors, Charles Danvers, Earl of Danby and Sir Thomas Jermyn, to survey the castles in those islands and report upon them to the board of ordnance.
In February of the following year Rudd petitioned the board of ordnance for the payment of arrears of salary; in June the board recommended the petition to the council, mentioning Rudd's services. In April, having been employed in making a survey of the Portsmouth defences, he recommended that they should be reconstructed at an estimated cost of £4,956. In June Rudd went to Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
to superintend the repairs to the harbour and to the Archcliffe bulwark or fort, and in October he reported to the council that the works were delayed for want of funds, and suggested that the revenues of the harbour, as well as the dues, should be devoted to the maintenance of the harbour and fort. To this the council assented on 29 May 1640, and on 31 December following directed all mayors, sheriffs, and justices to impress workmen in and about London and elsewhere for the works at Dover, which had been intrusted to Rudd.
In October 1640 Rudd went to Portsmouth to finish the fortifications, on the special application of Colonel Goring, the governor, and he divided his attention during 1641 between Portsmouth and Dover. The work at Portsmouth was retarded for want of funds, and in January 1642 the governor demanded stores, and leave to use materials for fortification, according to Rudd's survey of the previous year.
Rudd served as chief engineer on the royalist side throughout the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
, and in 1655 his estate at Higham Ferrars was decimated on an assessment for the payment of the militia, as a punishment for his adherence to the royalist cause. He died in 1656, aged 72, and was buried in Higham Ferrars church, where several epitaphs composed by himself were inscribed on his tomb.
Works
Rudd was the author of ‘Practical Geometry,’ in two parts, London, 1650, and ‘Euclides Elements of Geometry, the first six Books in a compendious form contrasted and demonstrated, whereunto is added the Mathematical Preface of Mr. John DeeJohn Dee (mathematician)
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
,’ London, 1651. He wrote the supplement to ‘The Compleat Body of the Art Military,’ by Lieutenant-colonel Richard Elton
Richard Elton
Richard Elton , was an English military writer.-Life:Elton was a native of Bristol. He joined the militia of the city of London, and in 1649 had risen to the rank of major. In 1654 he was deputy-governor of Kingston upon Hull under the parliament, and two years later, being then lieutenant-colonel,...
, London, 1650; 2nd edit. 1659. This supplement consists of six chapters, dealing with the duties of officers, the marching of troops and the art of gunnery. Sir James Turner, in his ‘Pallas Armata’ (1683), refers to another work by Rudd on sieges; but this cannot now be traced.
Rudd has been claimed as an occultist. Peter J. French writes that he was "steeped in hermeticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
" and an admirer of Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica. Among the Harleian manuscripts is a hermetic treatise that has been attributed to Rudd. According to Skinner and Rankine, Rudd was at the centre of a group of angel magicians.
Family
Rudd was married three times:- first, to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Castle of GlattonGlattonGlatton – in Huntingdonshire , England – is a village near Connington south of Yaxley and Stilton....
, HuntingdonshireHuntingdonshireHuntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
; - secondly, to Margaret, daughter of Edward Doyley of Overbury Hall, SuffolkSuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
; - and thirdly, to Sarah, daughter of John Rolt of Milton Ernes, BedfordshireBedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
.
He left an only daughter, Judith, by his third wife; she married, first a kinsman, Anthony Rudd, and secondly, Goddard Pemberton, and died on 23 March 1680.
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