Francis Gilroy : The Hudsons

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Hudson Descendant Line

1.......... John Hudson b1778 Lowestoft, Wavney, Suffolk, Eng, d28 Oct 1864 West Bromwich, Essex, Eng

............ + Sarah Spear bc 1787 Manchester, Eng, d1817 West Bromwich, Essex, Eng, m 16 Jul 1806 Lancashire, Eng

............ 2...... Jane Hudson b26 May 1807 West Bromwich, Eng, d25 April 1868 Essex, Eng

..................... + George Borwick b12 Jun 1806 Cartmell, Lancashire, Eng, d20 Jan 1889 Devon, Eng

..................... 3....... Alfred Borwick b17 Jun 1836 West Bromwich, Eng, d24 Jan 1897 Oroville, California USA

..................... 3....... Mary Borwick b2 Feb 1838 Shropshire, Eng, d16 June 1905 Florence, Italy

..................... 3....... Sarah Jane Borwick b1841 Shropshire, Eng, d9 Mar 1923 Somerset, Eng

..................... 3....... Charlotte Elizabeth Borwick b1843 Shropshire, Worc, Eng, d28 Jan 1933 Gloucestershire, Eng

..................... 3....... Robert Hudson Borwick b1845 London, Middlesex, Eng, d27 Jan 1936 Nice, France

..................... 3....... Joseph Cooksey Borwick b30 Jan 1847 London, Middlesex, Eng, d28 Apr 1913 Abney Park, Eng

............ 2...... Alfred Hudson b19 Nov 1808 West Bromwich, Eng, d15 Nov 1880 Dublin, Ireland

..................... + (1) Jane Antionette Gilroy b11 Feb 1807 Dublin, Ire, d18 Nov 1877 Dublin, Ire, m22 Jul 1834 Dublin

..................... + (2) Emma Lyster b1825 Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, Ireland, d3 July 1894 Lynton, Dublin, Ire, mc1879 Ireland

............ 2...... Cyrus Hudson b5 Jan 1810 West Bromwich, Eng, d24 Mar 1871 Dalston, Hackney, London, Eng

..................... + Harriet Ann Jones b1817 Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, Wales, d10 Oct 1871 Middlesex, Eng, m 1846 Salop

..................... 3....... John Hudson b14 April 1847 Lowestoft, Suffolk, Eng, d12 Feb 1873 London

..................... 3....... Morris Jones Hudson b14 Nov 1848 Lowestoft, Suffolk, Eng, d20 Apr 1928 Bath, Somerset, Eng

..................... 3....... Cyrus Spear Hudson b26 Aug 1850 Westbury On Severn, Glou. Eng

..................... 3 ...... Alfred Howard Hudson b1854 Resttary On Lena, Glou. Eng, d12 Jun 1891 Transvaal Sth Africa

............ 2...... Rebecca Hudson b4 Sept 1811 West Bromwich, Eng, d9 Oct 1866 West Bromwich, Eng, 14 Jul 1840 Eng

..................... + Joseph Cooksey b21 Oct 1814 Dudley, West Midlands, Eng, d4 Aug 1893 West Bromwich, Eng

..................... 3....... Mary Catherine Cooksey b1843 West Bromwich, Eng, d8 Jan 1916 London, Eng

..................... 3....... John Hudson Cooksey b1843 West Bromwich, Eng, d17 Mar 1899 Handsworth, West Midlands, Eng

..................... 3....... Joseph Cooksey b Jan 1845 West Bromwich, Eng, died Oct 1846 Dudley, Staffordshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Edith Ann Cooksey b1846 West Bromwich, Eng, d7 Aug 1933 Leamington, Warwickshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Rebekah Jane Cooksey b31 Mar 1848 West Bromwich, Eng, d8 Mar 1924 Canterbury, Kent, Eng

..................... 3....... Joseph Robert Cooksey b Apr 1850 West Bromwich, Eng, d10 Oct 1930 Hertfordshire, Eng

..................... 3....... George Borwick Cooksey b3 Dec 1851 West Bromwich, Eng, d17 May New York, USA

............ 2...... John Hudson b Dec 1811 West Bromwich, Eng

............ 2...... Robert Spear Hudson b6 Dec 1812 West Bromwich, Eng, d6 Aug 1884 Scarborough, Yorkshire, Eng

..................... + (1) Mary Bell b1832 Chetwynd, Shropshire, Eng, d23 Aug 1864 Leamington, Warwickshire, Eng, m14 Feb 1854 Eng

..................... 3....... Mary Evangeline Hudson b1855 West Bromwich, Eng, d1927 Guildford, Surrey, Eng

............................... + Arthur Frederick Flynn

............................... 4......... Robert George Gilroy Flynn b18 April 1883 Bache Hall, Chester, Eng, d1 Mar 1889 Falmouth, Corn., Eng

............................... 4......... Daphne Flynn b b1885 Falmouth, Cornwall, Eng

............................... 4......... Josephine Eva Flynn b1887 Falmouth, Cornwall, Eng

..................... 3....... Robert William Hudson b1 Aug 1856 West Bromwich, Eng, d14 June 1938 Aix-les-Bains, France

............................... + (1) Gerda Frances Marion Bushell bc1857 London, Eng, 21 June 1932 Surrey Eng

............................... 4......... Robert Spear Hudson b15 Aug 1886 London, Eng, d2 Feb 1957 Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia

............................... 4......... Jocelyn Hope Hudson b April 1889 London, Eng, d12 Jan 1916 Flanders, France

............................... 4......... Violet Rosalind Francesa Hudson b26 Feb 1898 London, Eng, d June 1975 Devizes, Wiltshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Samuel Bell Hudson b Oct 1857 West Bromwich, Eng, d Jul 1877 Staffordshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Emily Jane Hudson b1859 West Bromwich, Eng, d4 Sept 1942 Henley, Oxfordshire, Eng

............................... + John McGillycuddy b20 Mar 1855 Newry, Down, Ire, d4 Mar 1930 Killarney, Ire, m1890 Chester, Eng

............................... 4......... Anna Emily McGillycuddy b7 June 1892 London, Eng, d Dec 1969 Henley, Oxfordshire, Eng

............................... 4......... Anthony John McGillycuddy b7 Feb 1894 Killarney, Ire, d2 June 1955 Kerry, Ire

..................... 3....... Anne Elizabeth Hudson b Jan 1859 West Bromwich, Eng, Shropshire, Eng

............................... + Walter Spencer b11 Nov 1849 Patricroft, Eccles Lancashire, Eng, d26 May 1922 Herefordshire, Eng

............................... 4......... Muriel Emily Spencer b1881 Chester, Eng, d24 June 1854 Tonbridge, Kent, Eng

............................... 4......... Robert Spencer bc1883 Chester, Eng, died Hertfordshire, Eng

............................... 4......... Marjory Spencer b20 Dec 1886 Chester, Eng, d24 April 1968 London, Eng

..................... + (2) Emily Frances Gilroy b20 May 1812 Clent. Monahan, Ire, d20 Jul 1901, Chester, Eng, m1868 Ireland

............ 2...... Martha Hudson b1813 West Bromwich, Eng, d Mar 1892 West Bromwich, Eng, m 1835 Stafford, Eng

..................... + John Preston b1812 Marchington, Woodlands, Staffordshire, Eng, d 1882 Tamworth, Staffordshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Alfred Preston b7 Mar 1852 Drayton, Staffordshire, Eng, Oct 1912 West Bromwich, Eng

............ 2...... Hannah Elizabeth Hudson b1814 West Bromwich, Eng, d10 Aug 1904 Bristol, Eng, m Oct 1856 Staff.

..................... + William Creed b4 Aug 1814 Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, Eng, d1888 Hampshire, Eng

............ 2...... Mary Ann Hudson b18 Aug 1815, West Bromwich, Eng, died after 1901 England

..................... + Joseph Fletcher b7 Jan 1816 Lancashire, Eng, d2 June 1876 Bournemouth, Hampshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Mary Elizabeth Fletcher b18 Feb 1849 Hanley, Staffordshire, Eng

..................... 3....... Sarah Jane Spear Fletcher b Oct 1857 Hampshire, Eng

............ 2...... Frances Hudson b6 May 1817 West Bromwich, Eng, d Sept 1888 Warwickshire, Eng

..................... + William Henry Phillips b1813 West Bromwich, Eng

* Gilroy Sisters

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The Hudson family first came to West Bromwich in 1801; stayed about 100 years; and 100 years later all trace of them was gone, and they were all but forgotten. - John Hutchcocks 2014

Rev. John Hudson 1778-1864

Mayers Green was originally built in Messenger Lane in 1787 in sight of one of the rear entrances to the grounds of Sandwell Hall which was one of the homes of the Earls of Dartmouth. In the 1800’s employers expected their employees to attend church on Sundays. Newcomers soon filled the churches and additional places of worship were being built, these needed new younger ministers or vicars. John Hudson was one of the new men who came, married and reared his family here.

John Hudson studied for four years at Hoxton Theological College, London to become an Independent Minister. The newly qualified John was invited to West Bromwich in 1801 by the trustees of Mayers Green Chapel to be interviewed for the position of resident minister. This entailed meeting the congregation and preaching at least one three hour sermon. Hudson was accepted unanimously by the congregation and was ordained on the 6th May of the following year.

In the 1851 census return John recorded his place of birth to be Egham Surry. The International Genealogy Index of church records (a Mormon web site) cross references this and records his birth as 22nd December 1778 and baptism 6th January 1779. John’s parents were given as Stephen & Rebecca Hudson. Two or three years after starting his ministry it became obvious that the small Church could no longer accommodate the growing congregation. Consideration was given to enlarging the existing building or alternatively to find other accommodation. John’s business skills were apparent when he used a new Act of Parliament which allowed people to purchase land from the Wasteland Enclosures Commission. The Church Trustees began to raise funds to purchase, at a price of 5d per square yard, enough land to erect a new church, schoolrooms and to open a burial ground. Help was received from Madam Jane Whyley the last of the Turton family who lived at Oak House West Bromwich. The family began living in this half-timbered-house before 1564. The owners name changed when the heir was a recognised illegitimate son during 1749. When the last surviving heir William died in1806 the estate passed to his mother Jane Whyley then a local mine owner who donated £1000 to the church rebuilding fund. Madam Whyley also presented a silver communion chalice to Mayers Green Church in memory of her son; it is now in the safe keeping of Wednesbury Museum on behalf of Oak House their former residence. John laid the first brick of the new Church on 27th April 1807 and it opened on 13th April 1808.

John married Sarah the younger daughter of John (a cotton draper) & Betty Spear during 1806. The IGI has the wedding at the grand venue of Manchester Cathedral. At this time marriages in a number of small neighbouring churches were recorded as a service within the Cathedral. It is not now possible to differentiate between them and the actual Cathedral. The elder Spear daughter Elizabeth had also married at the same venue in 1799. The birth of a son is also recorded to John & Betty Spear and he was baptized Robert in November 1762. Robert was an active nonconformist who became a cotton speculator and later an importer of Sea Island cotton. Sarah & John lived at Springfield House in Sandwell Road West Bromwich. It is indicated on a map dated 1837 that John also owned land at the junction of High Street and Sandwell Rd. This was probably purchased at the same time as that for the new Church. Sarah bore John eight children in a period of ten years. The children were all baptised at Mayers Green Church by a variety of different Ministers but mainly by their father. Sarah died soon after the birth of Frances the exact date has proved elusive. The burial records of the graveyard at Johns’ Church, her most likely resting place did not survive the passage of time.

On the eleventh of May 1819 John married Mary Ann Lee at Kidderminster. The Lee family had its roots in the Independent Protestant Church in that area. With a new mother for the children John was now able to continue his evangelical work in the surrounding areas of Smethwick and Bilston in addition to his day to day work at Mayers Green. The census returns of 1841 and 1851 show John and Mary still living at Springfield House. John retired during 1843 and Mares Green formed itself into a· Congregational church in1800, replacing its original building in 1807 and extending its schools in 1813. New school premises costing more than £1,000 were raised in 1844, prior to the formation of a British School, this was leased to the local School Board in 1871, but closed in 1893. Following John Hudson's retirement in 1843, three other ministers successively served the congregation before Robert Hudson's principled decision to leave: the then resident minister being accused of preaching someone else's sermon, a split occurred leading to accession which included William Creed, minister at Mayers Green from 1852 to 1859 until resting on health grounds with very early but full retirement following his next pastorate. The result was the founding in 1873 of High Street Congregational Church. Robert Hudson retained his trusteeship at Mayers Green, already held in 1844, until at least 1878, with a brother-in-law, Joseph Cooksey, he had also stood guarantor for a mortgage on adjacent property which the chapel purchased at an earlier date.

Some ten years later during 1854 Robert (John’s son) married and moved into Springfield House. The senior Hudson’s (John and Mary) moved ‘around the corner’ to No. 8 Bratt street in anticipation of grandchildren from Robert and his wife Mary. A request was made by Rev. John Hudson through his son Robert Spear for permission of the trustees to construct a bricked grave for his own internment, whenever it may please God to call him hence, within the Chapel walls, at the back of the pulpit. A motion was proposed and seconded by the trustees that the application of the Rev. John Hudson would be most cheerfully complied with.’ In 1864 John died and was laid to rest in accordance with his wishes. His body remained at rest until the Church was damaged by fire and was finally demolished in 1969. For approximately 100 years any preacher walking from the vestry to the pulpit would step across this gravestone. Mary lived the rest of her life at her home in Bratt Street where she died in 1878 age 88.

Mayers Green Congregational Church Built for Rev. John Hudson

Jane Hudson 1807-1868
The eldest daughter and first born child of John and Sarah, married a school master. All Saints Church West Bromwich show that Jane Hudson married George Borwick on 31st October 1831. George was the son of Mary Braithwaite and Miles Borwick. Mary lived at Headhouse a hamlet 2 ½ miles from Carlmel in the Furness district of Lancashire. George came to West Bromwich as the proprietor of Heath Academy for gentlemen. There were six children from the marriage. While continuing his duties at the academy George had found a new interest in chemistry. He was working to perfect a new baking power which had been suggested to him by his brother in law. Borwick eventually made a saleable product during 1842. The following year the family moved to London where they lived at a number of addresses in the ‘East End’ and eventually before 1860 settled in the growing village of Walthamstow. Profits from baking powder had been sufficient to support the family from 1845. Jane died during 1868. Alfred the elder of George & Jane’s sons married Euphoria Lord who it is claimed by the present Borwick family was the grandchild of Elizabeth Spear. The second son Robert Hudson Borwick entered politics and in 1916 was knighted and created First Baron of Hawkshead in 1922. This line is still active, the heir apparent being the Hon. Edwin Dennis William Borwick who was born in 1984.

Alfred Hudson 1808-1880

Alfred the second born and eldest son of John and Sarrah, he was born in November 1808 and after an early local education he was unhappily apprenticed to a local doctor. Later it became possible for him to obtain a university education at Trinity College Dublin where he gained a BA & MA in Medicine during 1834. In the same year Alfred married Jane Antoinette Gilroy in Dublin. Jane’s father was Dr. Peter Gilroy MA who lived in Meath. Alfred had an illustrious career in Ireland and worked there until his death. He had a most impressive curriculum. He undertook general practice at Navan, Meath County, adding meanwhile the superintendency of its Fever Hospital; returned to Dublin in 1854, admitted a Licentiate and later elected Fellow of the College of Physicians; was Physician successively to the Adelaide and the Meath Hospitals from 1858 and 1861 in which latter year he progressed M.D.; President for two years of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland from 1871; Her Majesty's representative in the General Council of Medical Education; Physician in Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland; and Regius Professor of Physic in Trinity College from 1878 until shortly before his death. Alfred died in 1880. In 1882 a scholarship was offered by Dublin’s Adelaide Hospital to commemorate Alfred’s work following a gift of £1000 by Robert Spear Hudson for medical education in Ireland.

Physician in Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland; to the Hospital 1861 to 1871

Dr. Alfred Hudson was the eldest son of an Independent Minister, and was born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, in 1808. He was educated at Bromwich, and commenced his medical career as an apprentice to Mr. Thomas Silvester, a surgeon of that town. After serving an apprenticeship of five years, Hudson then pursued his medical education in Dublin, and was a clinical clerk of Graves and Stokes, at the Meath Hospital ; he also studied for some time at Edinburgh, where he acted as assistant to Dr. Macintosh, and subsequently at Paris. As a student, he was distinguished among his fellows, and gave early promise of that success which he eventually achieved. Pathology was the department of medicine to which perhaps he most devoted himself, his researches in this field, even at an early period of his professional life, show that he possessed large powers as an original investigator, and doubtless gave him that familiarity with the course and progress of disease which was so apparent in his treatment of it in after life. Having obtained, in 1834, the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, in the University of Dublin, and the Membership of the royal College of Surgeons in England, Dr. Hudson practised for a few months in his native town in England. Subsequently, however, he came over to Ireland, and took up the practice of Dr, Gilroy, of Navan, in the Co. Meath, on that gentleman’s retirement from the active duties of his profession. As physician to the Navan Fever Hospital, to which he was shortly after appointed, Dr. Hudson cultivated those faculties of observation, reflection, and comparison, which were the most prominent characteristics of his methodical mind, and which are apparent in all his writings. Most of these, naturally enough, bear upon the subject of fever. In addition to his truly philosophical Lectures on the Study of Fever (the first edition of which was published in 1867), Dr. Hudson was the author of an able report on the “Epidemic of Relapsing Fever of 1817-48.” He also contributed several important articles to the Dublin Journal of Medical Science, notably on “ Typhoid Pneumonia ’’(vol. vii., 1835); on “ Certain remedies in Typhus Fever” (vol. xi.,1837) ; on “ The use of Nitrate of Silver in affections of Mucous Membranes” (vol. xvii , 1840); on “The connection between Delirium and certain states of the Heart in Fever” (vol, xx., 1842); on “The Signs of Accumulation in Thoracic Diseases” (vol. xxii,,1856); on “ Cerebral complications in Fever” (vol. xxiii,, 1857). He was also the author of a valuable essay on “The Origin and Mode of Diffusion of the Fever-poison,” in the Medico Chirurgical Review.

While at Navan Dr. Hudson had the best practice, such as it was, of the limited district ; but mainly in consequence of being chagrined, as we have been reliably informed, at not obtaining a local medical appointment for which he was a candidate, heresigned the Fever Hospital and removed to Dublin in 1854, and took at once one of the finest houses in Merrion-square, North (No. 2). It, no doubt, was a remarkable change, and considered by some as rather risky to incur so much expense before he had the practice to keep it up. However, Hudson believed in the precept, “Never venture, never win,” and in this venture Hudson only copied the example of the late Sir James Simpson, of Edinburgh, who, on being disappointed in not being elected to some country dispensary, at once repaired to the city of Edinburgh, determined to win his way to fame and fortune, and so he did. In Merrion-square Hudson became a neighbour of his friend and former teacher. Dr. William Stokes, and rapidly rose to a leading position in Dublin. Many of his old Navan patients followed him to the city, and never gave him up during his long and successful professional life. He took the licence of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in the year of his coming to reside in Dublin (1854), and was elected a Fellow of the College three years subsequently, having previously resigned the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

In 1858 he became physician to the Adelaide Hospital, where he, however, only remained three years, as, on the resignation of Dr. Cathcart Lees, he was elected physician to the Meath Hospital, where he had received all his early training in his student days.

Minute of his election, from Medical Board Book, Meath Hospital, Meeting held 2nd February, 1861, Present—Professor William Henry Porter (in the chair). Others present were—Dr. Stokes, Messrs. Smyly, G. H. Porter, Collis, Wharton. Minutes of last meeting read and signed. Business—To elect a physician in room of Dr. Cathcart Lees, resigned. Letters were read from Drs. Mayne and Hudson proposing themselves as candidates for the office of physician to the Hospital in room of Dr, Lees, resigned. On a ballot Dr. Hudson was declared unanimously elected.

Thus, like Stokes and his former teacher, Graves, Hudson, who was, as we have already stated, a clinical clerk to both these illustrious physicians, now became Stokes’s colleague in the hospital which the triad have assisted, with other members of the staff, to make universally known in all quarters of the globe where medicine and surgery are practised.

The same year (1861) Dr. Hudson took his university degree of M.D. After holding the physicianship of the Meath Hospital for ten years. Dr. Hudson, whose practice had then become very large, resigned the post on March 29th, 1871. The following is a copy of his resignation, written to Mr. Robert Mayne, the Hon. Sec. of the Medical Board :—

“2 Merrion Square, N., “ March 29th, 1871.

My Dear Dr. Mayne,—Notwithstanding the kind forebearance of my colleagues, I feel constrained to place my resignation in their hands, as the engagements of private practice interfere so constantly with my hospital duties as to render it impossible for me to discharge these with satisfaction to myself or advantage to the students. It is with sincere regret that I resign so honourable a position, in an institution in which I have passed many of the happiest hours of my life, and for which I shall always retain an affectionate interest. “

With kindest regards to my friends and colleagues, “I remain, my dear Mayne,“ Most truly yours,“ A. Hudson.”

Dr. Hudson’s resignation was received with the greatest regret, and he was succeeded by Dr. Arthur Wynne Foot. In the autumn of the same year (1871) Hudson was elected President of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, which office he filled for two years. On the resignation of Dr. Stokes, in 1877, of his seat on the General Medical Council as Crown Representative for Ireland, Dr. Hudson was nominated in his stead; and on Dr. Stokes’s lamented death, in 1878, he was appointed his successor both as Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland and as Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Dublin.

Among the other posts of honour in which his eminent attainments and the high regard felt for him by the members of his profession placed him, was that of being elected the first President of the Dublin Branch of the British Medical Association. In this short sketch of his life we cannot dwell further on Dr.Hudson’s contributions to medical knowledge and literature. We would only remind our readers that it was he who gave a rational explanation of the remarkable phenomenon of tympanitic clearness on percussion over a solidified lung ; that to him also probably was due the discovery of the value of vocal fremitus as a diagnostic sign ; and that by his teachings and writings he did much to elucidate the facts which make the now generally recognised distinction between typhus and typhoid fevers. Dr. Hudson possessed the highest qualities as a practitioner and as a consultant. In the latter capacity he possessed the most perfect confidence and esteem of all those who sought his advice, whether lay or medical.

Few there are who have had the advantage of his assistance in consultation who have not benefitted at some time or other by his modestly advanced suggestions and freely given experience. He had much confidence in the action of remedies, and was an excellent therapeutist. Quiet and unassuming in manner, he had a bright, intelligent and active eye, and an impressive earnestness and thoroughness in all he said and did. He was gifted with a remarkable power of rapid diagnosis, which, however, he never permitted, whatever might be the expenditure of time or trouble on his part, to assert itself without satisfying himself of the existence of sufficient grounds for its correctness. And many of the younger members of the profession in Dublin have reason to be thankful to Dr. Hudson for numerous acts of kindness to them. He was always ready to aid unobtrusively and generously with his purse any deserving case of need, especially if occurring in the person or family of medical men.

For some years after he retired from the Meath Hospital he established the Hudson Prize for Medical Cases, which was given annually. This, however, he discontinued shortly before his death, and instead of leaving a bequest to the Meath Hospital, where he received his first impressions as a student, and where he afterwards gained all the information and practical experience for his future extensive practice, he left the sum of£2,000 to the Adelaide Hospital to establish prizes for the students there. As an old Meath man, this is the only act of Dr. Hudson’s we cannot easily forgive.

Dr. Hudson made an extensive fortune by his practice, but by some misfortune or otherwise he was induced to invest his money in mines in Wales, and in this investment he met with great reversal, losing in one investment nearly £20,000.

In appearance Dr. Hudson was not very extensive in stature, being rather small, but very active. He had a quick and rather comical eye, and always on seeing a patient for the first time gave them a remarkable scan from head to foot. During the latter years of his life he never shaved, and had a small greybeard and moustache. In his practice he made it a point never to charge curates of any church. In this way the junior members of all churches were amongst his strongest supporters and recommenders.

Dr. Hudson was married twice, but never had any family. Late in life he married his second wife, a Mrs. Nolan, widow of the late Dr. Nolan, of Wicklow. She still survives him.

A medical journal, in alluding to his death, said: —“An amiable physician of high intellectual powers and of great practical skill has just been lost to Dublin and to the profession in Ireland by the death of Dr. Hudson. Naturally a man of not very strong constitution, and of a nervous disposition, he suffered for some time past from vesical and prostatic trouble. This was believed by himself to be of a malignant nature, but he was averse to any more exact diagnosis being made by examination. Latterly he had been obliged to relinquish gradually all his professional avocations. His sufferings during the last six weeks of his life were most acute, and continued with undiminished severity until within a short period before death, which occurred at Lowville, Merrion, his country residence, near Dublin, on the 19th November, 1880, at the age of seventy-two years.”

He was buried at Mount Jerome on the 25th of November, and the funeral was attended by nearly all the leading medical men of Dublin, together with many friends and former patients.

From Medical History of the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary, 1888, Lambert Hepenstal Ormsby, A.B, M.D, Univ. Dub.; F.R.C.S, Chapter, Biographies – Physicians, Page 140-146

Death of Dr Alfred Hudson
A brief notice in our obituary column yesterday informed our readers of the death of one of the most eminent and esteemed members of the medical profession in our city. Dr Hudson’s reputation was not limited to Dublin but was European, and the profession, which disposed to weight with scrupulous, not to say jealous exactness the qualifications of its members for the highest distinctions, bear universal and cordial testimony to his great attainments.

The following tribute which is paid to him in the unpublished Reminiscences of a retired physician will, we believe, be endorsed by all his professional brethren:-

“Hudson, an Englishman by birth, came to Dublin as a medical student, and attached himself to the Meath Hospital School. Graves and strokes having raised it to its acme of fame at the time. His industry, intelligence, and quickness speedily attracted the admiration of his teachers. On his taking his degree in Arts in the Dublin University, he completed his medical studies, and on his graduating in medicine, he selected Navan for the field of his practice. He married the daughter of the principal physician in the county of Meath, and succeeded to his practice. Several years later I was called down to meet him in consultation in some of his urgent cases. The impression he made upon me I cannot easily forget. His manner concentrated in his case – his penetrating and searching eye and look – his pertinent questions, rapid, tone of thought, and appropriate comments upon the case under investigation, with his just appreciation of its salient features – led me once to the conclusion that I had met with no perfunctory practitioner. But when, in addition to these more striking qualities, he developed those of a patient and acute diagnostic analyst, leaving nothing uninquired into, nothing of value and undwelt upon, my opinion was fully confirmed. Again, on discussing treatment, he evinced no less discrimination and grasp of knowledge than he had displayed acuteness in detecting the true nature of the case. It is not to be wondered, then, that I arrived at the conclusion that here we had a physician indeed, and one who would prove a great acquisitica in any field of practice. So much did I feel the force of the latter conclusion, that I urged him to give me Navan, and afford the profession and the public the benefit of his talents and acquirements in Dublin. Vanity was not his failing. He listened to the suggestion patiently, but was slow in acting upon it. However, he at length yielded, and the Dublin public and the medical profession speedily appreciated the acquisition we had gained. He came rapidly into practice ; was elected as physician and teacher in the Meath Hospital and School, and was subsequently chosen President of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland. He has had a brilliant career until his health failed some years ago, since when he has been obliged to limit his practice. He has now passed away, deeply regretted, full of years and of honour”

- Dublin Daily Express - Tuesday 23 November 1880

Obituary

An amiable physician, of high intellectual 'powers and of great practical skill, has just been lost to Dublin and to the profession in Ireland by the death of Dr. Hudson. Naturally a man of not very robust constitution, and of a nervous, retiring disposition, he suffered for some time past from vesical trouble. This was believed by himself to be of a malignant nature; but be was, averse to any more exact diagnosis being made by a physical examination. Latterly, he had been obliged to relinquish gradually all his professional avocations. His sufferings, during the last six weeks of his life, we regret to say, were most acute, and continued with undiminished severity until within a short period before his death, which occurred at his country residence, near Dublin, on the 19th inst., at the age of seventy-two years. Dr. Hudson was the eldest son of an Independent Minister, and was born at West Bromwich, Staffordshire in 1808. He was educated at Bromwich, and commenced his medical career as, an apprentice to Mr. Thomas Silvester, a surgeon of that town. After serving an apprenticeship of five years, Hudson pursued his medical education in Dublin, and was a clinical clerk of Graves and of Stokes at the Meath Hospital. He also studied for some time at Edinburgh, where he acted as assistant to Dr. Mackintosh, and subsequently at Paris. As a student, he was distinguished among his fellows, and gave early promise of that success which he eventually achieved. Pathology was the department of medicine to which, perhaps, he most devoted himself. His researches in this field, even at an early period of his professional life, show that he possessed large powers as an original investigator; and, doubtless, gave him that familiarity with the course and progress of disease which was so apparent in his treatment of it in after life. Having obtained, in 1834, the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in the University of Dublin, and the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, Dr. Hudson practised for a few months in his native town. Subsequently, he came over to Ireland, and took up the practice of Dr. Gilroy, of Navan, in the County Meath, on that gentleman's retirement from active life. As Physician to the Navan Fever Hospital, to which he was shortly after appointed, Dr. Hudson cultivated those 'faculties of observation, reflection, and comparison, which were the most prominent characteristics of his methodical mind, and which are apparent; in all his writings Most of these, naturally enough, bear upon the subject of fever. In addition to his " truly philosophical" Lectures on the Study of Fever the first edition of was published in 1867.

- November 27th, 1880.

Obituary Alfred Hudson, M.D., Physician in Ordinary to the Queen in Ireland

Dublin Obstetrical Society Meeting

…Rev Dr Haughton said he could not abstain from referring to the loss which the country and the profession had sustained in the death of Dr Alfred Hudson with whom he had a long and intimate acquaintance, and he, therefore, wished to move “That the Obstetrical Society of Dublin desire to record their sense of the loss that medical science has sustained in the death of Dr Alfred Hudson, and to convey to this widow and brother their warm sympathy in their deep bereavement”. Dr Kidd seconded the resolution, and said they were all deeply sensible of the loss the public and the profession had sustained by the death of so able a an. The resolution was passed in silence, and the secretary was directed to forward it to the widow and brother of the deceased.

- Dublin Daily Express - Monday 29 November 1880

The Will

The Will of late of Alfred Hudson of 2 Merrion Square Dublin and of Lowville Merrion Co Dublin MD deceased who died 19 November 1880 at Lowville, proved at Principal Registry by Emma Hudson of Lakelands Dundrum in said County Widow the sole Executrix.

Cyrus Hudson 1810-1871

Cyrus followed his father into the ministry. He studied in Dublin & Glasgow to become an Independent Minister. He gained his M.A. in 1841., studying at the Universities of Dublin and Glasgow: his graduate status as M.A. of the latter was quite rare in the Congregationalism of 1841 when he commenced his ministerial work. His first church was in Lowestoft where he met and married Harriet Ann Jones during 1847. There were four children. By 1860 Cyrus had moved the family to live at Gwrych Denbighshire which is near to St. Asaph. Following three pastorates, a constitutional nervousness forced the premature close of his formal ministry, out of charge for some years, he died in London in 1871. Aged 61 Cyrus died at 103 Albert Road, Dalston, Middlesex, London.

Rebecca Hudson 1811-1866

Rebecca married a mining engineer. Joseph Cooksey who was a Mining Agent, Surveyor & Auctioneer was married to Rebecca at All Saints Church during 1840. The mining industry was very active at this time so Joseph’s services were much in demand and would have been comfortably able to support a wife. The family lived in High Street West Bromwich where the births of five of their children were recorded. In 1849-50 the family moved to No.20 Paradise Street where another two children were born. Joseph Robert was a replacement for Joseph when he died aged 78. The death of Rebecca was recorded at the age of 55.

Robert Spear Hudson 1812-1884

Robert was born in 6 December 1812 in West Bromwich and was christened by his father at Mayers Green Church, a copy of the entry in the register follows. He was apprenticed to an apothecary in Bilston. On completion of his training he worked from a chemist shop in High Street West Bromwich. By 1837 there were a range of proprietary products being made and one of these was a washing powder in the form of soap flakes which was an immediate success. The flakes were made by grinding with a mortar and pestle a hard bar of soap supplied by the firm of William Gossage of Widnes. The work was originally carried out in the back room of his High Street shop but by 1850 had expanded into an extension and employed ten girls. In both the 1841 and 1851 census returns Robert and his sister Hannah were living at the High Street shop. Robert played an active part in the civic life of the town and his Church. He became an improvement commissioner (the forerunner to a Town Councillor) was on the ‘Board of Guardians’ (Workhouse management) and also supported Ragged Schools. Hudson also worked on Church committees and gave extensive funding to Church organisations. In 1849 Robert became a founder member of West Bromwich Building Society. Robert Spear married Mary Bell at the Crescent Chapel, Everton Brow, Liverpool on 21st Feb 1854. Mary was born in Chetwynd near Newport, Shropshire, where her father Samuel Bell, later described as an Agent, was in 1841 a farmer, in 1854 Mary made her living selling goats milk to locals. They made their home at Springfield House (John’s former home) where their five children were born before 1861, the last two being twin girls. Mary died during 1864 leaving Robert with five children under the age of ten. Robert remarried during 1868, his bride being Emily Gilroy, the sister of Jane the wife of Alfred Hudson. The marriage took place at Donny Brook, Dublin. There were no children of this union. In 1873 a dispute within Mayers Green resulted in a number of influential members seeding from the Church. The Hudson family were among those to leave. Five years later Robert William Hudson (son of Robert Spear Hudson) & Thomas Rollason laid the foundation stone of a new Congregational Church in High St. The Church opened in April 1879. Less than one hundred years later the congregation could no longer support the cost of the upkeep of the church so it was sold to their neighbour, K&J printers. The church was soon raised to the ground and the land was initially turned into a car park during 1963 and has been subsequently built upon. After aggressive advertising the demand for soap flakes increased and by 1875 to meet export orders a new factory was opened at Bank Hall, Bootle, in Liverpool. The new works were then closer to both the source of the raw material and a port for the export trade. The new factory would eventually employ 1000 people and this was in addition to the West Bromwich works which continued to operate for another 60 years.

When the Liverpool factory opened in 1875 Hudson settled at Bache Hall, an eighteenth century brick-built building of two storeys and 5 bays in rural surroundings one mile north of the centre of Chester. During the time he lived there, Hudson greatly extended and, in Victorian terms, improved the property in its structure, farm and pleasure grounds, including adding an Italianate porch.

He was made a J.P. in 1881; became Chairman of the Liberal Club; subscribed generously to Chester's new Museum of Science and Art and to the North Wales College which would later become part of the University of Wales; and served as a governor of the King's School, founding scholarships to it from the Chester British Schools of which he was president and which he supported financially. He contributed regularly to the funds of the Cheshire Union of Congregational Churches (CUCC), as he continued to do to the South Staffordshire Union; and gave particular aid within the denomination towards the construction of such Cheshire village chapels as Barton, the schools at Great Boughton and two new Chester Churches. These latter were at Handbridge on the city's southern boundary where he paid part of the minister's stipend, and at Northgate where he worshipped and funded the employment of a missionary and a Bible Woman for work in the immediate vicinity.

Perhaps most significantly in terms of Congregationalism in the north-west, Hudson was elected the first Chairman of the North Wales English Congregational Union (NWECU) at its 1876 inauguration in Chester, serving in this capacity until his death on the 6th August 1884, whilst holidaying in Scarborough, where the family had gone for Mrs Hudson’s health. Robert suffered a major heart attack and died. The event occasioned widespread and genuine sadness across Chester. The Town Hall flag was at half-mast for some days and business suspended throughout the route of the funeral procession of this prominent citizen, a quite remarkable honour to a Nonconformist in such a strongly Anglican cathedral city. The display of mourning around the pulpit and table at the Northgate Church was agreed at an incomplete Saturday morning Deacons' Meeting at a member's shop, and then confirmed retrospectively and individually after the Sunday morning service. On the day of the funeral, twelve broughams travelled from the house to Chester Cemetery where he was buried from its Nonconformist Chapel. Attending that service were seven Chester ministers besides Congregationalists; the Principal of University College, Aberystwyth; and a NWECU representative from Llansantffraid. Hudson had moved comfortably in the circles of Chester's establishment, of both church and society: the Dean of Chester now sent one of the broughams whilst five clergy of the Established Church, the Cathedral precentor among them, were present at the Cemetery. Obituaries in the press covered many columns.

Wills and Bequests

The will (dated August 31, 1883) of Mr. Robert Spear Hudson, late of Bache Hall, Cheshire, of West Bromwich, and of Bankhall-street, Liverpool, manufacturing chemist, who died on August 6 last, at Scarborough, was proved on the 8th inst. By William Creed, Arnold Thomas, and Edward Caddick, the executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to upwards of £205,000. The testator leaves to his wife, Mrs Emily Hudson, £500, and an annuity of £3,000; he also leaves her, for life or widowhood, the mansion Bache Hall, and the pleasure grounds, with the furniture, plate, pictures, books, effects, horses and carriages, and £500 per annum to keep the pleasure grounds in order. Subject to the interest given to his wife in the mansion and grounds, he leaves the manor or lordship of Bache and the Bache Hall estate to his son, Robert William Hudson. He bequeaths annuities of £1,000 each to his said son and to his daughters, Mrs Mary Evangeline Flynn, Mrs Anne Elizabeth Spencer, and Mrs Emily Jane Hudson, for a period of six years from his death; £2,000 to the Manse Loan Fund for Independent Ministers; £2,000 to the Congregational Pastors’ Retirement Fund; £2,000 to the English Chapel Building Fund, for its loan fund, and £1,000 to the same society for its grant fund; £1,000 each to the London Missionary Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society; £500 to the Irish Evangelical Society; and legacies and annuities to this sister, nephews, nieces, manager, trusties, servants and others. The income of his property is to accumulate for six years, and at the expiration of the time he gives all his business property to his son, subject to his paying, under a valuation, for the stock-in-trade, bookdebts, credits, bankers’ balances, and other personal chattels; and the ultimate residue of his real and person estate is to be held upon trust for this three daughters.

Emily continued to live in Bache Hall until her death in 1901.

Before his death Robert Spear was in the process of buying Sibbersfield Hall for his son Robert William. But after his death in August 1884 and his son inherited Bache Hall, in Chester, rendering Sibbersfield surplus to requirements. It is not known whether any member of the Hudson family actually moved in at the Hall. The 'gift' of Sibbersfield Hall was the subject of a subsequent court case featured in the Chester Observer February 7th 1885.

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The Hudsons