Author: Seekings, John Cormac
Title: Rudd - the Search for a Cape Merchant
Description: Klipdrift Books, 2009. Soft Cover. 210p profusely illustrated history of Charles Rudd, prospector in South Africa and Sportsman in the West Highlands of Scotland where he retired to and is buried in Acharacle Argyll. During his life-time CDR was a well-known and controversial figure in Britain and in South Africa. His involvement in the creation and development of De Beers, of Gold Fields of South Africa and its successor Consolidated Goldfields, and of the British South Africa Company, brought great personal wealth and power. But since his death in 1916 he has been forgotten. During his life-time he was overshadowed by his close friend and business partner, Cecil John Rhodes. Unlike Rhodes, Rudd shunned publicity. Unlike Rhodes, Rudd left few personal records. Although remembered by historians, Charles Dunell Rudd has been ignored by biographers. His interests ranged from the collecting of exotic ferns to the hunting of big game. In retirement he played major but forgotten roles as a kindly Scottish laird and as a generous benefactor. Those enjoying his patronage included the Natural History Museum (for his exceptional collections of African fauna) and the Mount Vernon Hospital for Consumptives (which he founded and funded). The sheer absence of documentary records has meant that Rudd is no conventional biography. Instead it is a careful reconstruction, bordering on detection, involving the pursuit of uncertain clues in a search for certain facts. Clean, tight and unmarked but some sunning of the spine. See scans. (ISBN: 9780956114808).. Very Good

Keywords: 9780956114808