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Arthur Ruderman
moved to Ashford in 1958 and in 1967 joined
a Local History Class run by Dr Fred Lansberry. This fired his interest in
local history and led to further study and to a Diploma in Local History from
the University of Kent.
Arthur decided early on that he would try and restrict his
research to the now thriving town of Ashford, where he spent 16 years as
Treasurer to the Ashford Urban District Council. He worked with many others on
the Index of all known births, marriages and burials from c.1570 - late 1800's.
He went on to work on extracting information from the Ashford Manor Court
Rolls 1734-1927 and a rental of the Manor and identifying where much of the
land mentioned in them lay in the town.
OBITUARY from
Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 130 2010 pages 439-440
Arthur Ruderman died after a short illness on 22 December
2009, aged 87. After school in Birmingham where he grew up, he followed his
father in taking up accountancy and started his career in Local Government in
Hemel Hempstead, which was soon interrupted by the War. Due to Arthur’s
limited mobility he was unable to enlist but was active in the Home Guard. In
early 1942 prompted by his interest in aircraft identification he joined the
Observer Corps. (He remained active in the Corps until 1968 achieving the rank
of Chief Observer at the Sevington post.)
After the War Arthur pursued his Local Government career with
vigour. With his wife and their three children he moved to Ashford in the mid
1950s where he was promoted to the office of Treasurer. Following local
government reorganisation brought about by the Maud Report in the early 1970s,
he moved to Folkestone. After several years as Financial Director, Arthur was
appointed Chief Executive of Shepway Council. Arthur was always interested in
local history and after completing the Diploma in Local History at UKC in 1998
he contemplated a ph.d. in local government, a subject in which he had wide
experience and which was close to his heart. It would seem from his history of
Ashford that he became interested in the town in the early 1970s, stimulated
by the classes under Dr Fred Lansberry. His fine book on the town, A
History of Ashford, was published by Phillimore in 1994. Arthur set about
transcribing and recording many classes of records relating to the town. He
also wrote at a time that saw massive changes to the market town to what is
now a thriving centre with industrial and commercial activities and an
international passenger railway station. Whilst building on the work of
earlier authors of the town he was meticulous in combing primary sources for
details on Ashford providing a history of the town that will stand not only as
a testament of his industry but as a reference work for many years to come. A
leading light in the Ashford Historical Society, much of his recording work is
now available through the Kent Archaeological Society of which he was a member
from 1973.
L(ansberry) R(uderman) B(riscall) Historical Publications
published five books between 1982-1997. The last, Doctor John Wallis FRS,
who was born in Ashford in 1616 was Arthur’s own work and combined his love
of mathematics with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the town.
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