Rudhalls' bells; Records of Gloucester Cathedral, i. 127; Sussex Archæological Soc. xvi. 178; Register of Wills, P. C. C. Derby, fol. 41.]
RUDING, ROGERS (1751–1820), author of the ‘Annals of the Coinage,’ was second son of Rogers Ruding of Westcotes, Leicestershire, by Anne, daughter of James Skrymsher. The family had been settled at Westcotes since the beginning of the sixteenth century (see Visitation of Leicester, Harl. Soc. p. 104). Rogers Ruding was born at Leicester on 9 Aug. 1751. Matriculating from Merton College, Oxford, on 21 June 1768, he graduated B.A. in 1772, proceeded M.A. in 1775 and B.D. in 1782. He was elected fellow of his college in 1775. He was presented to the college living of Maldon, Surrey, in 1793, and afterwards became fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and an honorary member of the Philosophical Society at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He married, on 16 May 1793, Charlotte, fourth daughter of his uncle, John Ruding, and by her had three sons, none of whom survived him, and two daughters. He died at Maldon, Surrey, on 16 Feb. 1820.
Ruding published: 1. ‘A Proposal for restoring the Antient Constitution of the Mint, so far as relates to the Expense of Coinage, together with a Plan for the Improvement of Money, and for increasing the Difficulties of Counterfeiting,’ 1798. 2. ‘Some Account of the Trial of the Pix’ (‘Archæologia,’ xvii. 164.). 3. ‘Memoir of the Office of Cuneator’ (ib. xviii. 207). 4. ‘The Annals of the Coinage of Britain and its Dependencies,’ &c., 3 vols., London, 1817–19, 4to; 2nd edit. enlarged and continued to the close of 1818, &c. (Appendix), 5 vols., London, 1819, 8vo; vol. vi., plates, 1819, 4to; 3rd edit., enlarged, to which is added an entirely new index of every coin engraved, 3 vols., London, 1840, 4to. For the first edition, which was sold off in six months, the Society of Antiquaries permitted Folkes's plates to be used [see Folkes, Martin]. The third edition was edited by J. Y. Akerman, with the aid of other numismatists. Ruding also contributed numerous articles on the coinage to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine.’
[Gent. Mag. 1793 i. 479, 1820 i. 16, 190, 285; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 218; Penny Cyclopædia, xx. 216; English Cyclopædia; Nichols's Leicestershire, iv. 568; McCulloch's Literature of Political Economy; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 1234.]
RUDYERD, Sir BENJAMIN (1572–1658), politician and poet, son of James Rudyerd of Hartley, Hampshire, by Margaret, daughter and heiress of Lawrence Kidwelly of Winchfield in the same county, was born on 26 Dec. 1572. He was educated at Winchester school, and matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford, on 15 Jan. 1587–8, but does not appear to have graduated (Foster, Alumni Oxon. i. 1288; Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 455, gives the date of his matriculation as 4 Aug. 1587). On 18 April he was admitted to the Inner Temple, and on 24 Oct. 1600 was called to the bar (Manning, Memoirs of Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, p. 5).
Rudyerd's career falls naturally into three parts. ‘His youthful years,’ says Wood, ‘were adorned with all kinds of polite learning, his middle years with matters of judgment, and his latter with state affairs and politics.’ His poems, though not printed till after his death, gained Rudyerd considerable reputation as a poet, and he was also accepted as a critic of poetry. He associated with Ben Jonson, John Hoskins (1566–1638) [q. v.], John Owen (1560?–1622) [q. v.] the epigrammatist, and other men of letters, and was on intimate terms with William Herbert, earl of Pembroke. Jonson printed in 1616 three epigrams addressed to Rudyerd, praising his virtues, his friendship, and his ‘learned muse’ (Epigrams, 121–3). Another poem written on seeing Rudyerd's portrait is indifferently attributed to John Owen or Sir Henry Wotton (Manning, p. 254).
Rudyerd's friendship with John Hoskins was interrupted by a duel, in which the former is said to have been wounded in the knee (Wood, Athenæ, ii. 626). His intimacy with Pembroke, testified by his answers to Pembroke's poems, was further cemented by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Harington, who was a kinswoman of Pembroke (Manning, p. 28).
In 1610 Rudyerd obtained a license to travel for three years, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury mentions meeting him at Florence in 1614 (Life, ed. Lee, p. 153; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603–10, p. 581). After his return he was knighted (30 March 1618) and granted, on 17 April 1618, the post of surveyor of the court of wards for life (ib. 1611–18, pp. 525, 535; Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 173). Rudyerd held this lucrative office until its abolition by the Long parliament in 1647, when he was voted 6,000l. as a compensation for its loss (Manning, p. 240; Commons' Journals, v. 46).
Rudyerd's political career began in 1620, in which year he was returned to parliament for the borough of Portsmouth. In later parliaments he represented Portsmouth (1624, 1625), Old Sarum (1626), Downton (1628), and Wilton in the two parliaments of
