Mary Ruddock (2 April 1895 – 27 June 1969) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

businesswoman who ran a dressmaking business in Wellington from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Early life

Ruddock was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, England, on 2 April 1895, one of eight children born to the Reverend David and Anne (née Lush). When Ruddock was eight, the family moved to Wairoa, New Zealand, and her father became Archdeacon of

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

in 1907. After her father died in 1920, her mother moved the family to Parnell,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, where they lived in Anne Ruddock's parents' home, historic

Ewelme Cottage Ewelme Cottage is a historic house on Ayr Street, in the suburb of Parnell, New Zealand, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand. Ewelme Cottage is named after the church of the same name. It was built mostly of kauri in 1863 and 1864 for Church of Engla ...

. Ruddock attended

St Margaret's College, Christchurch St Margaret's College is an independent girls' school in Christchurch, New Zealand founded on Anglican Christian values. It offers the dual academic pathway of NCEA and International Baccalaureate. History The school was established in 1910 on ...

and received awards in botany, needlework and class work. She also began to play the violin while at the school. Ruddock lost both of her brothers in World War I: Edward died in 1915 and Walter in 1917. In 1921, Ruddock went to England to study music at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. On her return to New Zealand, she advertised in the Auckland papers as a violin tutor.

Career

In 1931 Ruddock moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and established a dressmaking business called "Mary Ruddock Ltd" specializing in children's clothes. She designed the clothes and a team of seamstresses sewed them, with Ruddock checking every item before it left the workroom. The shop was initially located in Molesworth Street, and later moved to Vickers House in Woodward Street. The business went into voluntary liquidation in 1942 but re-opened in 1945 in premises on

Lambton Quay Lambton Quay (once known as The Beach) is the heart of the central business district of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Originally, as the name implies, it was the high-water line of the foreshore, and sometimes the sea would roll ...

. In the 1950s Ruddock branched out into women's clothes, and one of her customers was her old school friend from Christchurch,

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Det ...

. She also provided clothes for the children of Sir Willoughby Norrie, the Governor-General of New Zealand at that time. In 1963, Mary Ruddock Ltd ceased trading and Ruddock died in Wellington in 1969 at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddock, Mary 1895 births 1969 deaths People educated at St Margaret's College English emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand businesswomen 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople