Harry Rødseth: a lifelong link with Buckie

Harry Rødseth maintained a lifelong connection with Buckie and with the family that he lived with during the war years. 

He came from Ålesund and before the war had studied engineering and shipbuilding in the town and was apprenticed to a yard then.  When war came he was a sailor on convoys and, with the invasion of Norway, found himself in Britain.  Eventually, he would come to Buckie and was employed for much of the war in the Royal Norwegian Slip and Repair Shops at Cluny Harbour.

During his time in Buckie, he lived with the Smith family at 7 Baron Street.  Many Norwegians and Danes lived along Baron Street and round the corner into the Yardie as well.  After the war, Harry maintained contact with the Smith family right up to his death and came back, in later life, to visit Buckie and his old friends.  He died in July 2002. 

The Harry Rødseth Archive

This collection of material, photographs, letters, books and gifts charts the strong connection between Harry Rødseth and the Smith family in Buckie.  It is probably the most complete archive of any of the Norwegians who came to Buckie during the war and then returned home afterwards.  It is reproduced here by kind permission of Mrs Mary Mair, the grand-daughter of Mrs Smith in Baron Street, with whom Harry lodged during the war. 

At Christmas 1946, less than a year after his return to Norway, Harry sent the book Norway from the air as gift to the Smiths, in gratitude for all they had done for him during the war. 

Harry married Borgny Gina Vedde (1924-2009) and had four children.  Every so often a letter with some photographs of the growing family would arrive in Baron Street in Buckie. 

Harry maintained the connection throughout his life and continued to send, periodically, a gift from Norway to his friends in Buckie such as this volume Norge: fra fjord til fjell which he inscribed to Helen Smith.

Between 1947 and 1966, Harry worked at Drammen Slip & Verkstad (above).  He was a skilled and gift engineer, much valued by the firm.  When, in 1966, he decided to leave the firm, the managing director encouraged him to stay by offering him a new Mercedes Benz as the letter below to the Smith sisters in Buckie describes.  Harry, however, decided to move to work at Det Norske Veritas (DNV) where he remained until retirement.  Harry is mentioned in this book on the Drammen Shipyard and also on the website of the Industrimuseum which extensively mentions the yard.

Harry also became something of a notable maritime and shipping artist as the article below shows.  He gave one of his paintings to the Smith family (below right).

On 16 July 2002, Harry collapsed near his home while out walking his dog.  He was rushed to hospital but nothing could be done and he died two days later.  He was 82 years old.  In September of that year, Borgny wrote to Helen Smith in Baron Street, Buckie to tell her of Harry's death.  The end of a remarkable link across the north sea.  Borgny died on the 15 October 2009 aged 85.