Thomas Rudd

Thomas Rudd, born in 1583 or 1584 and dead in 1656, was an English military engineer and mathematician, the eldest son of Thomas Rudd of Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire. In his earlier years he served as a military engineer in the Low Countries. On 10 July 1627 Charles I appointed him chief engineer of all castles, forts and fortifications in Wales, and he was later the King's principal engineer for fortifications. In 1635 he visited Portsmouth to settle a question between the governor and the admiralty about removing naval buildings that interfered with proposed fortifications, and in 1638 he visited Guernsey and Jersey at the request of their governors to survey the castles there and report to the board of ordnance. He later petitioned the board for arrears of salary and surveyed the Portsmouth defences.