Austin Rudd (4 December 1868 – 24 March 1929) was a British music hall comedian and vocalist.[1]
Rudd was born in London and made his first professional stage appearance at the age of 22 at Deacons Music Hall in Clerkenwell, where a reviewer called him a "comedian of decidedly modern stamp".[2]
For the next forty years Rudd performed with success in all the major London music halls and in the British provinces as well as undertaking a number of tours abroad to the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.[3] [4] [5]
He had a large repertoire of songs, many of which he wrote and composed himself, including "Sailors Don’t Care", "Here We Suffer Grief and Pain" and "She Was In My Class".[6] [7]
Rudd continued to work right up to his death in 1929, aged 60. He was buried in his family grave at St Lawrence Church, Morden.[8] [9]
A commemorative blue plaque was unveiled at his former home at 254 Edgware Road, London, on September 5, 2015, by The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America[8] [10]