Henry Rudd was born at 26 Paget Street in Southampton, Hampshire, England on 25 December 1887.

He was the son of William George Rudd (1850-1902), a seaman, and Rose Alice Sealy (1859-?), Southampton natives who had married in 1879.

One of nine children, Rudd’s siblings were: William Albert (b. 1880), Rose Alice (1883-1953, later Mrs Albert Foster), Florence Jane (1885-1968, later Mrs William Codd), George (1891-1962), John Alfred (1894-1945), Annie Margaret (1896-1987, later Mrs Robert C. Cornelius), Emma (b. 1898) and Lily (1901-1932, later Mrs George W. Riddett).

Henry first appears on the 1891 census living at 39 Coleman Street, St Mary, Southampton; the family had moved to 6 Houndswell Place by the time of the following census.

Henry's father died in 1902 aged 52 which coincided with the birth of his youngest sibling Lily. His mother apparently remarried, becoming Mrs Blake, but there is no record of the marriage. Henry is absent from the 1911 census, perhaps already at sea, but his mother and siblings were by then living at 20 Peel Street, Southampton.

When he signed on to the Titanic on 6 April 1912, Rudd gave his address as 20 Chapel Street, Southampton, the home address of a Mr and Mrs William Green. His previous ship had been the Oceanic and as a storekeeper he received monthly wages of £6.

Henry Rudd died in the sinking. His body was not positively identified for many years but was almost certainly that recovered by the Mackay Bennett (#86) and buried at sea.

His mother's further whereabouts are unclear, but she is thought to have died in Hampshire in the early 1920s.

Henry is remembered in Southampton after a street, Rudd Way, was named after him.