# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hudson, Charles Thomas

​HUDSON, CHARLES THOMAS (1828–1903), naturalist, third of five sons of John Corrie Hudson, chief clerk of the legacy duty office (1795-1879), and Emily (1794-1868), daughter of James Hebard, of Ewell, Surrey, was born at Brompton, London, on 11 March 1828. The father in youth was an advanced radical and friend of William Godwin [q. v.], of the Shelleys, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt; in later life his opinions changed (Athenæum, 1879, i. 506). He was author of 'A letter on the cruelty of emplojdng children in sweeping chimneys' (Pamphleteer, xxii. 407-30, for 1823); and also of: (1) 'The Executor's Guide,' 2nd edit. 1838 (many edits.); (2) 'Plain Directions for making Wills,' 2nd edit. 1838 (many edits.); (3) 'Tables for valuing Annuities,' ​2nd edit. 1842; (4) 'The Parent's Handbook, or Guide to the Choice of Professions,' 1842. Of other sons, Franklin Hudson (1810-1853), a surgeon, compiled 'Monumental Brasses of Northamptonshire' (1853), and Corrie Hudson (1822-1880), also in the legacy duty office, published two official handbooks.
Charles Thomas Hudson was educated at Kensington grammar school and The Grange, Sunderland. Family circumstances compelled him to earn his living by teaching at an early age, first at Glasgow and afterwards at the Royal Institution, Liverpool. It was largely through his own exertions that he was able in 1848 to go to St. John's College, Cambridge. He graduated as fifteenth wrangler in 1852, proceeding M.A. in 1855 and LL.D. in 1866. After leaving Cambridge he became on 25 July 1852 second master of the Bristol grammar school, and on 30 March 1855 was appointed headmaster. He resigned this post at midsummer 1860, and in 1861 opened a private school at Manilla Hall, Clifton, formerly the residence of Sir William Draper [q. v.], which he conducted till 1881. His varied interests and sympathies explain his school's success. Afterwards he lived at 6 Royal York Crescent, Clifton, whence he moved in 1891 to Dawhsh, Devon, and in 1899 to Shanklin, Isle of Wight. During his later years he often gave lectures, chiefly at public schools, on natural history, which he illustrated with ingenious coloured transparencies of his own construction.
Hudson, a born naturalist, devoted his leisure to microscopical research, and in particular to the study of the Rotifera. His first printed paper was on 'Rhinops Vitrea' in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for 1869. Afterwards he published numerous papers in the 'Microscopical Journal' and the 'Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,' describing new genera and species of Rotifera, of which 'Pedahon mirum' was a noteworthy discovery. A list of these papers is given in the 'Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society' for 1904, p. 49. He was elected fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1872, was president from 1888 to 1890, and an honorary fellow from 1901 till his death. With the assistance of Philip Henry Gosso [q. v.] he published in 1886-7 'The Rotifera: or Wheel-Animalculoe.' In recognition of this, the standard monograph on the subject, he was elected F.R.S. in 1889. Lord Avebury (Pleasures of Life, oh. 9) quotes the charming introduotion of this work as showing that the true naturalist was no mere dry collector.
Hudson's natural gift for drawing found expression in the beautiful illustrations of 'The Rotifera.' He was also musioal, and as a young man wrote and composed songs.
Hudson died at Shanklin on 23 Oct. 1903, and was buried there. He married (1) on 19 June 1855 Mary Ann, daughter of Wilham Bullock Tibbits of Long Ashton, near Bristol, by whom he had one daughter, Florence; and (2) on 24 June 1858, at Chfton, Louisa Maria Fiott, daughter of Freelove Hammond of the Inner Temple; by his second wife he had four sons and five daughters.
[Personal knowledge; private information; Men of the Time, 15th edition, 1899; Journal of Royal Micr. Soc, 1904, pp. 48, 49; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
C. L. K.