A Gentleman-at-Arms

A little about the story

Set down, so the story goes, by Sir Christopher Rudd himself in 1641 and copied out by his grandson, this is the life of an Elizabethan adventurer told in the first person. Young Kit Rudd leaves home to make his fortune and finds himself fighting Spaniards, crossing swords with Irish rebels and sailing to the New World.

Herbert Strang gives it the flavour of an old memoir, with sieges, duels, captures and escapes, and a narrator who looks back on his youthful scrapes with a wry, grown-up eye. A full-blooded historical adventure for readers who like their swashbuckling with a sense of the past.

Things You May Not Know About A Gentleman-at-Arms

• Framed as a family manuscript. The introduction describes a bundle of faded papers kept by the Rudd family, written down by Sir Christopher's grandson Stephen.
• Illustrated by Cyrus Cuneo and T. H. Robinson, two of the leading adventure illustrators of the day.
• Herbert Strang was two people. The name was a pen name shared by George Herbert Ely and Charles James L'Estrange.