Roderick Oliver Redman, 17 July 1905 - 6 March 1975

Abstract

Roderick Oliver Redman was born on 17 July 1905 at Rodborough, Stroud, Gloucestershire, the son of Roderick George Redman and Elizabeth Miriam Annie Stone. He was the only boy in the family, having three younger sisters. His father owned and ran a small outfitter’s shop, normally employing two assistants, in George Street, Stroud. The shop had belonged to his father before him, and its speciality was made-to-measure tailoring and especially shirt-making. Redman senior’s interest, however, lay not in his business but in his church work. He was a Nonconformist with a fine faith, which found its greatest practical realization in a lifetime of enthusiastic service through the local Baptist church in John Street, Stroud. His love of music—which he transmitted to his family—was accompanied by an exceptional talent which he placed at the disposal of the church, where he was organist from 1897 to 1907 and choirmaster from 1900 to 1924. Mbreover, he was a teacher at the Sunday School from the age of 17, and Superintendent from 1913 to 1937 5 and he was the church treasurer from 1925 to 1951. Thus Redman was brought up in a strongly religious atmosphere—to quote his own words, ‘in what I can only describe as the best of the Puritan tradition, to which I believe British science owes more than it has ever cared to acknowledge’.