Well the news is that parts have been sourced out at some expense. However, since my wife is in the UK and she has graciously agreed to carry this heavy stuff back with her, I will be saved the cost of customs and postage.
For the VERY FEW who have wire wheels on their classics the following may be of interest. I consider I should impart the knowledge I have/will gain to others here since I do all the work myself.
So what I learnt was that Rudge made wheels with all sorts of combinations with regards to the center size, number of spokes, diameter of rim ect. For example, The MG TCs have 42 size hubs but 48 spokes and a 19" rim (my car has 42 size center, 60 spokes and 18" rim"). This made me realize that the number of spokes is not a standard quantity. Due to this reason the supplier has wheel centers without the drilling for the spokes. Once the order is confirmed, the wheel center is drilled for holes to accommodate the spokes. In my case the supplier made the required 60 holes of a diameter suitable to the spokes. There are 40 thin spokes at the back (near the wheel drum) and 20 spokes of thicker size at the front of the hub.
Though the supplier is a specialist in the business of wheels and his web site mentions the "backspacing" dimension, yet, to be sure he asked me to supply him with this dimension off my wheel. See below the diagram I sent him. Backspacing is 54.8mm. Web site says it should be 55mm (+/- 1.5mm)
I was not sure what was the purpose for asking this dimension. To my surprise I was informed that they will bend the spoke head at an angle that will ensure that the back spacing comes out to 55mm!!
Spoke starts like the one on the right. then ends up like the one on the left. The angle of bend determines the backspacing dimension
I was initially thinking of using a bolt cutter and just cutting out the old spokes but the supplier informs me that I should save the old spokes as sometimes the treads of the new spokes get damaged during the fitting process. This too was something new to me.
The parts I ended up ordering were:
1 - Wheel center
2 - 60 spokes
3 - spoke spanner