Robert Spear Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson CH

Order of the Companions of Honour

The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....

 PC

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 (15 August 1886 – 2 February 1957) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician who held a number of ministerial posts during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

He was the eldest son of Robert William Hudson

Robert William Hudson

Robert William Hudson was born in West Bromwich, the eldest son of Robert Spear Hudson who had founded a soap-flake manufacturing business. Hudson managed his father's company until it was taken over by Lever Brothers Ltd in 1908....

 who had inherited the substantial family soap business and sold it, and Gerda Frances Marion Bushell. Hudson was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

. He entered the Diplomatic Service in 1911, becoming an attaché

Attaché

Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...

 and first minister before entering politics.

Hudson was elected as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Whitehaven

Whitehaven (UK Parliament constituency)

Whitehaven was a constituency centred on the town of Whitehaven in Cumberland , which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It was created in 1832 and renamed Copeland at the 1983 general election....

 in 1924 and served there until losing in 1929. In 1931 he was returned for Southport

Southport (UK Parliament constituency)

Southport is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

. He served in several ministerial posts, becoming a Privy Counsellor in 1938 and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889...

 in 1940, a post he would hold until the 1945 election

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

. In the opinion of
Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton

Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton

Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton PC , known as Viscount Turnour until 1907, was an Irish peer and British politician in the first half of the twentieth century who achieved the rare distinction of serving as both Baby of the House and Father of the House at the opposite ends of his career in the...

, Hudson "was by far the best of Ministers of Agriculture in either war...he was determined to see that farmers and landowners alike utilised every acre of soil to help keep the nation from starvation".

He had a particular interest in farming and was a member of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society

Royal Agricultural Society

The Royal Agricultural Society of England was established in the United Kingdom in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science". The RASE aim is to promote the scientific development of agriculture. The society received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840.From its early days the society...

.

Hudson was created Viscount Hudson

Viscount Hudson

Viscount Hudson, of Pewsey in the County of Wiltshire, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1952 for the Conservative politician Robert Hudson. He was the son of Robert William Hudson and the grandson of soap-flake manufacturer Robert Spear Hudson...

in 1952.