Charles Ruddach

???? - 1811


Biography

Tobago slave-owner, dying in London, brother and co-heir of Thomas Ruddach (q.v.). Charles Ruddach had married (as her second husband) Elizabeth, who went on to marry John Babington Nolan (q.v.).

  1. Baptised 04/01/1758 in Kirkwall, Orkney, one of the three sons of Cecelia Stewart and the Reverend Alexander Ruddach of Kirkwall and St Ola, Orkney, Scotland. The father was born in Grange, Banffshire, Scotland, educated at Kings College, Aberdeen, and was ordained in the Church of Scotland in 1749. When Rev Alexander died in 1763, the boys' uncle, Charles Stewart, appear to have taken responsibility for the boys' future.

  2. Death of Charles Ruddach esq. late of Tobago at Totteridge Herts, July 6 1811. Will of Charles Ruddach of Keppel Street Russell Square proved 06/08/1811. In it Charles Ruddach appointed his wife Eliza Harlston Ruddach as trustee and executrix. He left his residual estate, after monetary legacies to his brother Alexander's family (his wife received the lease of his house in Keppel Street), to his [infant] son George, including his interest in the Adelphi estate there and property in Jamaica. He asked his friend Andrew Thompson of Tobago to take care of the property left by Charles' brother Thomas to 'Georgina alias Eliza Ruddach.'

  3. 'Pursuant to a Decree of the High Court of Chancery, made in a Cause Ruddach against Nolan, the Creditors of Thomas Ruddach, late of the Island of Tobago, in the West Indies, Merchant, deceased (who died in or about the month, of February 1798), are by their Solicitors forthwith to come in and prove their debts before William Alexander, Esq. one of the Masters of the said Court, at his Chambers, in Southampton-Buildings, Chancery-Lane, London, or in default thereof they will be excluded the benefit of the said Decree.' Thomas Ruddach was the brother of Charles Ruddach: Charles and a third brother, Alexander, were the residuary legatees of Thomas Ruddach's will (proved in 1800). This lawsuit was between Charles' nephew Robert Steuart Ruddach and John Babington Nolan, who had married Charles Ruddach's widow.


Sources

  1. GROS OPR Births 21 20 158 Kirkwall; Alan Karras, Sojourners in the Sun (1992) pp. 161-163; Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesia Scoticanae vol. 7 p. 227; C. Duncan Rice, 'Archibald Dalzel, the Scottish Intelligentsia, and the Problem of Slavery', Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 62, No. 174, Part 2 (Oct., 1983), pp. 121-136, see p. 124;

  2. Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 81 Part 2 (1811) p. 91; PROB 11/1525/62.

  3. London Gazette 17447 06/02/1819 p. 252.

We are grateful to Vilma Ruddock for her assistance with compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?
Spouse
Elizabeth Harleston Macfarlane nee Hartley
Children
Charles

Associated Claims (1)

£1,361 16s 6d
Previous owner (not making a claim)

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1800 [SY] - 1811 [EY] → Joint owner

Relationships (2)

Deceased Husband → Widow
Brothers

Addresses (2)

Orkney, Highlands & Islands, Scotland
Keppel Street, Russell Square, London, Middlesex, London, England