2 March 1877, St Augustine’s Church opens in West End.
2 March 1896, Lease on “The Bungalow” transferred from Richard Solomon to Charles Rudd.
2 March 1900, Cecil Rhodes leaves for Cape Town after the siege.
RUDD FAMILY TAKE UP RESIDENCE AT THE BUNGALOW
Rudd House, or ‘the Bungalow’ as it is also known, was the magnificent rambling home of early diamond magnate and Cecil Rhodes’ first partner, Charles Dunnell Rudd (one of their first ventures was importing an ice-making machine to the diamond fields). Rudd became the chairman (after R.D. Graham) and managing director of the De Beers Mining Company when it was formed in 1880, while Rhodes became the company’s first secretary. Rudd bought the property in 1896 from Richard Solomon, who had occupied it since 1888.
Bevil Gordon D’Urban Rudd
In 1898 Henry Percy Rudd, Charles’ son, became owner of the home. His son, Bevil Gordon D’Urban Rudd, born in 1894, went on to become the gold medallist for South Africa in the 400 m sprint at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920.
Henry Percy Rudd
His son, Bevil John Blyth Rudd, the eldest of four children, was born in the night nursery in 1927 – the same place that Bevil senior died in 1948. By the time HP Rudd died in 1961, the original four-roomed house had been extended in different directions to its present form.
Now owned by the McGregor Museum, the house was restored in the Art Deco style of the 1920s, when it was in its heyday, and was opened to the public in 1988.
The home was declared a national monument in 1990.
Pictured are the three generations of the Rudd family – Charles Dunell Rudd, Henry Percy Rudd, and Bevil Gordon D’Urban Rudd.
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
Shortlink for this post: https://www.kimberley.org.za/?p=8129
