1641   THOMAS RUDYARD, (Goldsmith).

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Son of the Rev. William Rudyard, sometime vicar of

All Saints', Leic., where he was baptized 8 May 1579, and descended from a family of the name, long seated at Rudyard, co. Stafford. For a time he was in business as a goldsmith but he is occasionally referred to in the Hall Book as a "gentleman", and when taking up his freedom of the borough 26 February 1636~7 as "a stranger." He was elected a member of the forty~eight in 1637, and an alderman shortly afterwards. During his term of office as mayor, King Charles I paid two visits to Leic.

AId. Rudyard took the side of the Parliament during the Civil Wars for which, it is recorded, he was com~ mitted for a time to prison at Westminster. He married three times and had a numerous family. Eventually he was dismissed from the corporation on his own petition 21 July 1653 and was buried in the chancel of

All Saints' church 30 July 1656. His will, dated 19 June 1656, original formerly in the possession of the compiler and now preserved in a private collection, was never proved.

The Leic. branch of the family entered their Pedigree at the Leics. Visitation of 1619 and recorded these Arms :-Argent, treille sable, on a canton gules, a rose or. Crest:-A lion's head guardant and erased or. Plate 3.