Rudderham, William (1835-1871)

Ministry

A transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by Richard S Blair is attached. Within the obituary is the following paragraph.

The Rev. Jonathan Scott says: ‘‘I remember him well when he was a local preacher in his native circuit, and how that for miles around his home he was loved for his simple earnest piety, which was influential and beneficial to others, especially to the young. I remember too with what modesty he presented himself for examination to the committee appointed for that purpose by the district meeting on his being a candidate for the itinerancy, and how satisfied the examiners were with his replies to questions upon repentance, justification by faith, and sanctification. ‘I felt it and feel it now,’ he replied with great fervour in relation to sanctification. We laboured together for two years at Lynn, where he had many friends; he was a diligent, conscientious plodding labourer, and his greatest grief was that he did not see more fruit as the result of his toil. He was quiet, unassuming, and affectionate; he was no pompous declaimer; he did not blaze away like a summer sun, but was like the gentle star at eventide. Of his moral worth I have the highest opinion ; he was a man of integrity—a true man; no shuffling and trimming marked his conduct, he so lived that his life was worship. He was a diligent, honest, upright, devoted, good man, a true friend, and a ‘good minister of the Lord Jesus.’ ” 

Family

William was born on 22 October 1835 at Saham Toney, Norfolk, to parents Thomas Rudderham, a cordwainer, and Sophia Newton. He was baptised on 19 November 1835 at Mattishall & Watton by John Winkfield.

William worked as a shoemaker before entering the ministry (1851).

He married Mary Ann Lusher (1836-1910) in the summer of 1862 in the Swaffham Registration District, Norfolk. Census returns identify on child.

• Mary Elizabeth (b1865) – a pupil teacher (1881); a stay maker (1891); married William Wood in 1886     

William died on 20 September 1871 at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He was buried at Saham Toney, Norfolk.

Circuits

• 1858 Ely
• 1859 Bury St Edmunds
• 1861 Yarmouth
• 1862 Lynn
• 1864 Swaffham
• 1866 St Ives, Hunts
• 1868 Colchester
• 1869 Bury St Edmunds

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1873/107

PM Minutes 1871/6

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers