Frank was born on 20 September 1905 in Strood, Kent, the only son of William and Annie Ruck. His parents would become a well-known couple in the Medway Towns. His father William, the son of the licensees of the Old Tartar Frigate on Rochester High Street, had in his youth played for Chatham Amateurs Football Club (later Chatham FC). After William’s marriage, he became a tram driver and had the distinction of driving the first tram up Chatham Hill. A daughter, Gladys, followed in 1910.
By 1911, the family were living at 24 Institute Road, Chatham. In 1916, they took over the licence of the Fountain public house at 84 High Street, Strood, where they would remain for many years. They were joined by Frank’s maternal aunt, Lilian Harmsworth, and her young son George. Lilian had suffered domestic abuse and, in 1919, attempted to end her marriage on the grounds of persistent cruelty. Frank, then just thirteen, appeared as a witness to her assault, but the case was dismissed.
At the time of the 1921 census, Frank, now aged 15, and his aunt Lilian were both living and working at the Fountain as assistants to the licensed victualler. Soon afterwards, his father took over the license of the Nag’s Head on Rochester High Street. Frank, however, chose a different path and joined the Merchant Navy. He served as a plate washer aboard SS Orsova, a steamship carrying passengers between Britain and Australia via the Suez Canal. His discharge papers in 1929 describe him as 5 feet 11 inches tall, with grey eyes and fair hair.
Frank returned to the Medway Towns and, by 1934, the Ruck family were living at Cross Ways, Rochester. That year, he acted as best man at his sister Gladys’ wedding to Stanley Whitehead. The newly-weds took up residence at Grange Way, just off Cross Ways.
By 1939, Frank – now employed by the Gas Company – was living with Gladys and Stanley at 26 Grange Way, Rochester. The couple, who had no children, shared their home with him, and with their parents living only yards away in Cross Ways, the family remained closely connected.
As war approached in 1939, Frank – then in his mid-thirties – remained in civilian employment. His work with the Gas Company, an essential public utility, would likely have placed him in a reserved occupation, exempting him from military service.
The war, however, would come to him.
On the night of 21 September 1940, bombing raids fell across Rochester and the surrounding area. Contemporary newspaper reports describe how explosives struck the lower part of the town, where houses were destroyed and others badly damaged. At nearby St Margaret’s Cemetery, tombstones were “hurled in the air” and scattered across a wide area.
Grange Way lay directly opposite.
During the air raid, a bomb fell with devastating effect, destroying both Nos. 24 and 26 Grange Way. Three people were killed. At No. 24 – recorded as unoccupied in the 1939 Register – were Ethel Neal, a 55-year-old housewife, and a lodger, Harry William Wisdom, aged 24, a young accountant at the nearby Short Brothers Seaplane Works, lost their lives. Frank William Ruck, of No. 26, was also killed.
Many others were rendered homeless and were accommodated in a nearby Baptist hall.
Later accounts would recall the impact on the family. During the raid, Frank’s sister Gladys, now Mrs Whitehead, was buried beneath the rubble of her home for many hours before being rescued.
Frank’s name was later recorded on the Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham Gas Company Roll of Honour, the only civilian listed among fourteen colleagues who died on active service.
Mr Frank William Ruck lies buried in the Rochester Municipal Borough Cemetery, better known as St Margaret’s Cemetery.
