William Henry Hudson
Encyclopedia
William Henry Hudson was an author, naturalist
, and ornithologist
.
, in Buenos Aires Province
, Argentina
, son of settlers of U.S.
origin. He spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna and observing both natural and human dramas on what was then a lawless frontier, publishing his ornithological work in Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society, initially in an English mingled with Spanish idioms.
Hudson settled in England
during 1874. 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 Day (1903), Afoot in England (1909) and A Shepherd's Life (1910), which helped foster the back-to-nature movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
He was a founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
.
Hudson's best known novel is Green Mansions
(1904), and his best known non-fiction is Far Away and Long Ago (1918).
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
and several other public places and institutions are named after him.
Towards the end of his life, Hudson moved to Worthing in Sussex, England. His grave is in Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery in Worthing
.
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, and ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
.
Life and work
Hudson was born in the Quilmes, a borough (partido) of the greater Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, son of settlers of U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
origin. He spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna and observing both natural and human dramas on what was then a lawless frontier, publishing his ornithological work in Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society, initially in an English mingled with Spanish idioms.
Hudson settled in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during 1874. 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 Day (1903), Afoot in England (1909) and A Shepherd's Life (1910), which helped foster the back-to-nature movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
He was a founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
.
Hudson's best known novel is Green Mansions
Green Mansions
Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest 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.-Plot summary:...
(1904), and his best known non-fiction is Far Away and Long Ago (1918).
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 Partido
Berazategui is a partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. With a surface of 188 km² and a population of 320,224 , it is located at the southeast of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conglomerate, and its capital is Berazategui city.It was part of the Quilmes Partido until 1960.The...
and several other public places and institutions are named after him.
Towards the end of his life, Hudson moved to Worthing in Sussex, England. His grave is in Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery in Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
.
Works
- The Purple Land that England Lost: Travels and Adventures in the Banda Oriental, South AmericaThe Purple LandThe Purple Land is a novel set in nineteenth 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 title The Purple Land, Being One Richard Lamb's...
(1885) - A Crystal AgeA Crystal AgeA Crystal Age is a utopian novel 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 evolve a century later....
(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)
- Osprey; or, Egrets and Aigrettes (1896)
- Birds in London (1898)
- Nature in Downland (1900)
- Birds and Man (1901)
- El Ombu (1902), stories; later South American Sketches
- Hampshire Days (1903)
- Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical ForestGreen MansionsGreen Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest 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.-Plot summary:...
(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)
- 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 PlackDead Man's PlackDead Man's Plack is a Grade-II listed 19th-century monument to Earl Athelwold of Wherwell, who was allegedly killed near the site where it stands by his rival in love, King Edgar, 'Edgar the Peaceful', in 963.-Description:...
- A Traveller in Little Things (1921)
- Tired Traveller (1921), essay
- Seagulls In London. Why They Took To Coming To Town (1922), essay
- Hind in Richmond Park (1922)
- The Collected Works (1922–23), 24 volumes
- 153 Letters from W.H. Hudson (1923), edited by Edward GarnettEdward GarnettEdward Garnett was an English writer, critic and a significant and personally generous literary editor, who was instrumental in getting D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers published. His father Richard Garnett was a writer and librarian at the British Museum...
- 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
- Far Away and Long Ago - A History of My Early Life (1918)
- W.H. Hudson's Letters to R. B. Cunninghame Graham (Golden Cockerel PressGolden Cockerel PressGolden Cockerel Press was a major English private press operating between 1920 and 1961.The Press was founded by Harold Midgley Taylor in 1920 and was first in Waltham St Lawrence in Berkshire where he had unsuccessfully tried fruit farming...
1941; about R. B. Cunninghame Graham) - 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
- English Birds and Green Places: Selected Writings (1964) ISBN 0-575-07207-5
- Birds of A Feather: Unpublished Letters of W.H. Hudson (1981), edited by D. Shrubsall
External links
- http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3A(texts)%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20(subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20W%2E%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20W%2E%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22William%20Henry%20Hudson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22William%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22W%2E%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%2C%20Sir%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20W%2E%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%2C%201841-1922%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20W%2E%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22William%20Henry%20Hudson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22William%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22W%2E%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22William%20Henry%20Hudson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22William%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22W%2E%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22William%20Henry%20Hudson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22William%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22W%2E%20H%2E%20Hudson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20Henry%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Hudson%2C%20W%2E%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Hudson%2C%20William%20H%2E%20%28William%20Henry%29%22)Works by or about William Henry Hudson] at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated) (plain text and HTML) - Tales of the Pampas (El Ombú and Other Stories), illustrated 1939.
- Parque Ecológico Provincial Guillermo Enrique Hudson, Natal house of William Henry Hudson in Florencio Varela, Argentina