FUIDGE, Charles Strickland (1839-1927) — Southampton
Ordnance Survey engraver. Engraved the ornament on OS Sheet 306 (Dover A) 1878. A marginal note on OS NS-2-H:265 (1898), notes that it had taken Fuidge 346 days to engrave its hills at a cost of £350 (Sheetlines 44, Dec 1995, p.15).
Born at Fareham, Hampshire, in the latter part of 1839, the son of Edwin Fuidge (1812?-1891), an artist and drawing-master, and his wife Susannah Rogers (b.1815), who married in 1835. Employed by the Ordnance Survey from at least 1861, when boarding in Southampton with a younger brother, William Varley Fuidge (1842-1915), also employed by the Survey. He married (1) Catherine Augusta Collins (1839-1882), a dress-maker, at Southampton 7 Sep 1862. By 1871, he and his wife had four children. Another younger brother, Richard Hamilton Fuidge (b.1854), was part of the household and employed as a colourist by the Survey. Further children were born later, and by 1891 there were the first of seven more by his second wife Juliana Eliza Swanson (1861-1940) from Liverpool. He had retired by 1911. Fuidge died at home 31 Aug 1927 and was buried at Southampton Old Cemetery 3 Sep 1927. Probate on an estate valued at £304.9s.6d. was granted to his widow 2 Nov 1927. Fuidge served as Secretary of the Royal Southampton Horticultural Society for over fifty years, being awarded £50 in a handsome purse for his sterling work in 1882. He was also much involved in organising local events. A son, George Fuidge (1866-1953), also became an engraver for the Survey, retiring in 1927 as Superintendent of the department.
50 Waterloo Terrace, Southampton — 1861
32 York Street, Southampton — 1865-1871
39 York Street, Southampton — 1881
Heckfield House, 27 New Alma Road, South Stoneham — 1887-1891
17 Alma Road, South Stoneham — 1893-1900
6 College Terrace, Southampton — 1901
7 Silverdale Road, Southampton — 1911-1927
BNA. Census 1841-1911.