Lancelot Nixon Richard Ruddock (1837-1908) - known as Richard Ruddock - was a
reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
,
newspaper editor and a founder of the
Sunderland Echo in the 19th century.
Early life
Richard Ruddock was born in
Blyth,
Northumberland on 27 December 1837 to William Ruddock, a hairdresser. He was the eldest of eight children. After was working as a clerk to a customs agent aged 13, he became a
compositor
Compositor may refer to:
* Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing
** Paige Compositor, a device developed to replace manual compositors, which was a commercial failure
* Compositing software, used i ...
on the ''Northern Daily Express'', based in
Newcastle.
[Sunderland Daily Echo: 27 June 1908][Newcastle Chronicle: 27 June 1908][Book and News Trade Gazette: 6 October 1894]
Journalism career
Ruddock moved to
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
in 1859, where he worked on the ''Sunderland Herald'' newspaper for a year, and he was then appointed as agent and resident reporter in Sunderland for the
Newcastle Chronicle.
Ruddock established the ''Sunderland Penny Weekly News'' for the Chronicle's proprietors in 1865 and "warmly supported"
John Candlish in his political battles of 1867–1868. During this time, Ruddock worked closely with
Liberal councillor, and future
MP for Sunderland,
Samuel Storey. The pair would eventually become two of the original seven founders of the
Sunderland Echo in 1873.
Ruddock visited
Egypt for health reasons in 1877 and, soon after his return in 1878, he succeeded
James Annand as managing editor of the
Newcastle Chronicle. It was a post he held until his death.
[Sunderland Daily Echo: 22 December 1923]
His
obituary
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
in the Sunderland Echo on 27 June 1908, read: "Unlike Annand, who had resigned after falling out with the Chronicle's proprietor,
Joseph Cowen, on the
Eastern Question, the leading political issue of the day, Ruddock seems to have been content to do as Cowen wanted. His managing editorship was most notable for his avoidance of both labour disputes and libel actions."
Personal life
Ruddock married Ann Whitfield, daughter of Captain James Whitfield of Sunderland, in 1861. The Census for this year shows he was living in Blandford Street, Sunderland, although he later moved to Argyle Square, Bishopwearmouth. He was survived by his wife, four sons and two daughters following his death in
Newcastle on 27 June 1908.
References
Further reading
* Sunderland Daily Echo: 27 June 1908 - obituary
* Newcastle Chronicle: 27 June 1908 - obituary
* Who Was Who
* Book and News Trade Gazette: 6 October 1894, pp 238–9
* Sunderland Daily Echo: 22 December 1923 - article on Echo founders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddock, Richard
1837 births
1908 deaths
British male journalists
People from Blyth, Northumberland