Rice Rudd, 2nd Baronet

Sir Rice Rudd, 2nd Baronet (* around 1643, † July 1701 in London) was an English nobleman and politician.

Origin and marriage

Rice Rudd was the only son of Anthony Rudd and his wife Judith Rudd. His father was the eldest son of Sir Rice Rudd, 1st Baronet of Carmarthenshire , Welsh , and his mother was the daughter and heir of the respected Thomas Rudd of Highham Ferrers in Northamptonshire . His two grandfathers, despite having the same surname, were only distantly related, if at all. His father died in 1648, and his mother was a second marriage to the royalist Colonel Goddard Pemberton . Charles Cornwallis from Holborn in Middlesex then became Rice's guardian . He married the young Rice on December 7, 1661 to his daughter Dorothy. When his grandfather Rice Rudd died in 1664, Rice inherited his title of Baronet and Aberglasney House with extensive estates in Wales.

Rise as a politician

Rudd held various offices in Carmarthenshire, including from 1667 the office of Justice of the Peace and from 1674 the office of Deputy Lieutenant . But he probably had to take on such high debts from his grandfather that he had to take out a mortgage for Aberglasney in 1673 . After the death of his father-in-law Cornwallis in 1675, Rudd and William Wogan found letters in the estate of his father-in-law that brought new knowledge to the Gunpowder plot of 1605. The letters were published in 1679 and made Rudd so popular that he was elected MP for Higham Ferrers in the March 1679 general election against the Court candidate, Lewis Palmer . He was re-elected in October 1679 and 1681, but Rudd had to go into debt, especially for the election campaign for his first candidacy in 1679. Because of his debts he lost his office as justice of the peace after he had already lost the office of deputy lieutenant in 1680. In 1682 he inherited his mother's estate in Higham Ferrers. Presumably he did not run for the general election in 1685. As a Protestant he was an opponent of King James II and in 1688 applied unsuccessfully for the office of sheriff of Carmarthenshire. In the general election in 1689, Rudd ran for both Higham Ferrers and Carmarthenshire. He won both elections and then moved to Parliament as Knight of the Shire for Carmarthenshire. As in his previous terms, Rudd was not particularly active in Parliament, but generally supported Robert Harley and the Whig and King William III governments. With the approval of John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery from Golden Grove , he also ran for Carmarthenshire in the elections of 1690, 1695, 1698 and 1701, which he won unopposed. In gratitude for his support, he received the administration of the Honor of Higham Ferrers in 1697 , which belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster . He died in London in late July 1701 and was buried in Llangathen, Welsh .

Marriage and inheritance

Rudd's marriage to Dorothy Cornwallis had been childless. Despite his possessions, his offices and his wife's inheritance, his debt at his death was at least £ 1,600. Therefore, after his death, Aberglasney House fell to his creditor Thomas Wentworth, while Rudd's cousin Anthony Rudd († 1706) inherited the title of baronet. His mother's inheritance fell to her nephew Thomas Pemberton .

Web links

• ER Edwards, John. P. Ferris: RUDD, Sir Rice, 2nd Bt. (C.1643-1701), of Aberglasney, Llangathen, Carm. (History of Parliament online, Ref Volumes: 1660–1690)
• DW Hayton: RUDD, Sir Rice, 2nd Bt. (C.1643-1701), of Aberglasney, Llangathen, Carm. History of Parliament online, Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Individual evidence

1. ^ Francis Jones: Aberglasney and its Families. In: National Library of Wales Journal, 1979, p. 9

predecessor	title	successor
Rice Rudd	Baronet, of Aberglassney 1664-1701	Anthony Rudd