William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an

Anglo-Argentine English Argentines (also known as Anglo-Argentines) are citizens of Argentina or the children of Argentine citizens brought up in Argentina, who can claim ancestry originating in England. The English settlement in Argentina (the arrival of Eng ...

author, naturalist and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Life

Hudson was the son of Daniel Hudson and his wife Catherine (), United States settlers of English and Irish origin. He was born and lived his first years in a small

estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...

called "25 Ombues" in what is now Ingeniero Allan, Florencio Varela, Argentina. In 1846 the family established a ''

pulpería Pulpería was the name given to company stores and dining facilities in parts of South America, notably in the industries that extracted sodium nitrate from caliche deposits between 1850 and 1930 in Northern Chile in the current regions of Tarapa ...

'' further south, in the surroundings of

Chascomús Chascomús is the principal city in Chascomús Partido in eastern Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, located south of the capital Buenos Aires. In 2001, the city had a population of 30,670. History The city was founded as a fort (the ''Fortí ...

, not far from the lake of the same name. In this natural environment, Hudson spent his youth studying the local

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

and observing both natural and human dramas on what was then a lawless frontier, while publishing his ornithological work in ''Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society'' initially in an English mingled with Spanish idioms. He had a special love for Patagonia. Hudson emigrated to England in 1874, taking up residence at St Luke's Road in

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

, where he continued to live for most of his life; in 1876 he married his landlady, the former singer Emily Wingrave, in Kensington, London. One of the daughters of John Hanmer Wingrave, she was some eleven years older than Hudson, having been born on 22 December 1829. He supported himself as a writer and journalist; the couple had no children. Hudson himself was naturalized as a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

on 4 July 1900. Hudson was a friend of the late-19th century English author

George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include ''The Nether World'' (1889), ''New Grub ...

, whom he met in 1889. They corresponded until the latter's death in 1903, occasionally exchanging their publications, discussing literary and scientific matters, and commenting on their respective access to books and newspapers, a matter of supreme importance to Gissing. In 1911 Emily Hudson became an invalid and moved to

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

in Sussex. After that, Hudson lived apart from her "for reasons of his own health", although it is clear from their abundant surviving correspondence that he visited her frequently and they remained on affectionate terms. Hudson died on 18 August 1922, at 40, St Luke’s Road, Westbourne Park, Bayswater,“HUDSON William Henry of at 40 St Luke’s-road Westbourne Park died 18 August 1922” in ''Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1922'', p. 267 and was buried in Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery,

, on 22 August 1922, next to his wife, who had died early in 1921. Hudson left an estate valued at £8225, and his Executors were the publisher

Ernest Bell Ernest Thomas Bell (31 March 1880 – 2 May 1930) was a pastoralist and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Biography Bell was born in Camboon, Queensland, to parents John Thomas Marsh Bell and his wife Gertrude Augusta (née Nor ...

and Wynnard Hooper, a journalist.

Books

He produced a series of ornithological studies, including ''Argentine Ornithology'' (1888–1899) and ''British Birds'' (1895), and later achieved fame with his books on the English countryside, including ''Hampshire Days'' (1903), ''Afoot in England'' (1909) and ''A Shepherd's Life'' (1910), which helped foster the back-to-nature movement of the 1920s and 1930s and was set in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Hudson's best-known novel is ''

Green Mansions ''Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest'' (1904) is an exotic romance by William Henry Hudson about a traveller to the Guyana jungle of southeastern Venezuela and his encounter with a forest-dwelling girl named Rima. The principa ...

'' (1904), which was adapted into a

a film A. Film Production A/S (previously A. Film A/S, A. Film ApS and A. Film I/S) is a Denmark, Danish animation studio currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Affiliated to the Copenhagen studio are A. Film Estonia located in Estonia and A. Film L ...

starring Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins, and his best-known non-fiction is ''Far Away and Long Ago'' (1918), which was also made into

Scientific views

Hudson was an advocate of Lamarckian evolution. He was a critic of

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

and defended

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. He was influenced by the non-Darwinian evolutionary writings of Samuel Butler. He was an early member of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

Recognition and awards

The Hudson Memorial Bird Sanctuary in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

, London includes a carved stone memorial by Sir Jacob Epstein representing Rima, the child goddess of nature, who featured in Hudson's novel ''Green Mansions''. The engravings are by the designer Eric Gill.

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

referred to Hudson's ''

The Purple Land ''The Purple Land'' is a novel set in 19th-century Uruguay by William Henry Hudson, first published in 1885 under the title ''The Purple Land that England Lost''. Initially a commercial and critical failure, it was reissued in 1904 with the full ...

'' (1885) in his novel ''

The Sun Also Rises ''The Sun Also Rises'' is a 1926 novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bu ...

'', and to ''Far Away and Long Ago'' in his posthumous novel ''

The Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2-3 and Ezekiel 28 an ...

'' (1986). He listed ''Far Away and Long Ago'' in a suggested reading list for a young writer.

James Rebanks James Rebanks (born 1974) is an English sheep farmer and author, from Matterdale in Cumbria. His first book, ''The Shepherd's Life'', was published in 2015, and he published ''English Pastoral'' in 2020. He also published ''The Illustrated Herd ...

' 2015 book ''

The Shepherd's Life ''The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District'' is an autobiographical book by James Rebanks, a sheep farmer from Matterdale, Cumbria, England, published by Allen Lane in 2015. Rebanks writes that he was moved and inspired by another book ...

'' about a Lake District farmer was inspired by Hudson's work of the same name: "But even more than Orwell or Hemingway, W.H. Hudson turned me into a book obsessive ..." (p. 115), and: "One day, I pulled ''A Shepherd's Life'' by W.H. Hudson from the bookcase ...and the sudden life-changing realization it gave me that we could be in books – great books." (p. 114) In Argentina, Hudson is considered to belong to the national literature as ''Guillermo Enrique Hudson'', the Spanish version of his name. A town in

Berazategui Partido Berazategui is a partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. With an area of and a population of 320,224 (), it is at the southeast of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conglomerate, and its capital is Berazategui city. It was part of the Quil ...

and several other public places and institutions are named after him. The town of

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

in Buenos Aires Province is named for him.

Works

*''

that England Lost: Travels and Adventures in the Banda Oriental, South America'' (1885) *''

A Crystal Age ''A Crystal Age'' is a utopian novel/Dystopia written by W. H. Hudson, first published in 1887. The book has been called a "significant S-F milestone" and has been noted for its anticipation of the "modern ecological mysticism" that would evolv ...

'' (1887) *''Argentine Ornithology'' (1888) *''Fan–The Story of a Young Girl's Life'' (1892), as Henry Harford
''The Naturalist in la Plata''
(1892)
''Idle Days in Patagonia''
(1893)
''Birds in a Village''
(1893) *''Lost British Birds'' (1894), pamphlet *''British Birds'' (1895), with a chapter by

Frank Evers Beddard Frank Evers Beddard FRS FRSE (19 June 1858 – 14 July 1925) was an English zoologist. He became a leading authority on annelids, including earthworms. He won the Linnean Medal in 1916 for his book on oligochaetes. Life Beddard was born in ...

*''Osprey;'' or, ''Egrets and Aigrettes'' (1896) *''Birds in London'' (1898) *''Nature in Downland'' (1900) *''Birds and Man'' (1901) *''El Ombú'' (1902), stories; later ''South American Sketches'' *''Hampshire Days'' (1903) *''

: A Romance of the Tropical Forest'' (1904) *''A Little Boy Lost'' (1905) *''Land's End. A Naturalist's Impressions in West Cornwall'' (1908) *''Afoot in England'' (1909) *''A Shepherd's Life: Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs'' (1910)
''Adventures Among Birds''
(1913) *''Tales of the Pampas'' (1916) *''Far Away and Long Ago – A History of My Early Life'' (1918; new edition by

Eland Eland may refer to: Animals *''Taurotragus'', a genus of antelope ** Common eland of East and Southern Africa ** Giant eland of Central and Western Africa Places * Eland, Wisconsin, United States * An old spelling of Elland, West Yorkshire * Ela ...

, 2005) *''The Book of a Naturalist'' (1919) *''Birds in Town and Village'' (1919) *''Birds of La Plata'' (1920) two volumes *''Dead Man's Plack and An Old Thorn'' (1920) – see

Dead Man's Plack Dead Man's Plack is a Grade-II listed 19th-century monument to Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia, who, according to legend, was killed in 963 near the site where it stands by his rival in love, King Edgar I. The name is more probably derived ...

*''A Traveller in Little Things'' (1921) *''Tired Traveller'' (1921), essay *''Seagulls in London. Why They Took To Coming To Town'' (1922), essay *''A Hind in Richmond Park'' (1922) *''The Collected Works'' (1922–23), 24 volumes *''153 Letters from W.H. Hudson'' (1923), edited by

Edward Garnett Edward William Garnett (5 January 1868 – 19 February 1937) was an English writer, critic and literary editor, who was instrumental in the publication of D. H. Lawrence's ''Sons and Lovers''. Early life and family Edward Garnett was born i ...

*''Rare Vanishing & Lost British Birds'' (1923) *''Ralph Herne'' (1923) *''Men, Books and Birds'' (1925) *''The Disappointed Squirrel'' (1925) from ''The Book of a Naturalist'' *''Mary's Little Lamb'' (1929) *''South American Romances'' (1930) ''The Purple Land; Green Mansions; El Ombú'' *''W.H. Hudson's Letters to R. B. Cunninghame Graham'' (

Golden Cockerel Press The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961. History The private press made handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, and sometimes ...

1941; about

R. B. Cunninghame Graham Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever socialist member of the Parliament of the United Ki ...

) *''Tales of the Gauchos'' (1946) *''Letters on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres'' (1951), edited by David W. Dewar *''Diary Concerning his Voyage from Buenos Aires to Southampton on the Ebro'' (1958) *''Gauchos of the Pampas and Their Horses'' (1963), stories, with

R.B. Cunninghame Graham Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852 – 20 March 1936) was a Scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer. He was a Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP); the first ever socialist member of the Parliam ...

*''English Birds and Green Places: Selected Writings'' (1964) *''Birds of A Feather: Unpublished Letters of W.H. Hudson'' (1981), edited by D. Shrubsall *''Landscapes and Literati: Unpublished letters of W.H. Hudson and George Gissing'' (1985), edited by Dennis Shrubsall and Pierre Coustillas

Bibliographies

* G. F. Wilson (1922, 1968) ''Bibliography of the Writings of W.H. Hudson'' * John R. Payne (1977) ''W.H. Hudson. a Bibliography''

Biographies

Morley Roberts Morley Charles Roberts (29 December 1857 – 8 June 1942) was an English novelist and short story writer, best known for ''The Private Life of Henry Maitland''. Life and work Roberts was born in London, the son of William Henry Roberts (1831-19 ...

(1924) ''W.H. Hudson'' * Ford Madox Ford (1937) ''Portraits from Life'' * Robert Hamilton (1946) ''W.H. Hudson:The Vision of Earth'' * Richard E. Haymaker (1954) ''From Pampas to Hedgerows and Downs: A Study of W. H. Hudson'' * Alicia Jurado (1971) ''Vida y obra de W.H. Hudson'' * John T. Frederick (1972) ''William Henry Hudson'' * D. Shrubsall (1978) ''W.H. Hudson, Writer and Naturalist'' *

Ruth Tomalin Ruth Tomalin (1919, Piltown, County Kilkenny, Ireland – 22 November 2012, Eastbourne) was a British journalist, novelist, and children's author. Biography Ruth Tomalin grew up in West Sussex on the Stansted Park estate, where her father was head ...

(1982) ''W.H. Hudson – a biography'' * Amy D. Ronner (1986) ''W.H. Hudson: The Man, The Novelist, The Naturalist'' * David Miller (1990) ''W.H. Hudson and the Elusive Paradise'' * Felipe Arocena (2003) ''William Henry Hudson: Life, Literature and Science'' * Jason Wilson: ''Living in the sound of the wind'', Personal Quest For W. H. Hudson, Naturalist And Writer From The River Plate London : Constable, 2016

Notes

References

External links

* * * * *
''Tales of the Pampas (El Ombú and Other Stories)''
illustrated 1939. *
Reserva Hudson
*Archival Material at *
The Papers of William Henry Hudson
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, William Henry 1841 births 1922 deaths 19th-century Argentine writers 19th-century English novelists 20th-century Argentine male writers 20th-century English novelists Argentine male novelists Argentine ornithologists Argentine emigrants to England Argentine naturalists Argentine people of American descent Argentine people of English descent Argentine people of Irish descent English ornithologists English people of American descent English people of Irish descent Lamarckism People from Quilmes Victorian novelists Vitalists