Charles Hudson

@1732-1803. His family originated from Haltcliffe Bridge in Cumbria,

Hudson was commissioned lieutenant on 27 June 1757 and served in that rank aboard the sloop Porcupine, Captain John Ferguson

Having been promoted commander on 24 August 1762 he saw duty aboard the tender Peggy in home waters, and after paying her off in the following March he commissioned the new Vulture 14, going out to the Mediterranean in August where he remained for two years. He was posted captain of the Deal Castle 20 on 20 June 1765, going out to Portugal and the Mediterranean, which ship was paid off in the following year.

Hudson fought at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781. Six days later his frigate was captured by the French

In July 1775 he commissioned the Orpheus 32, which sailed for North America at the end of October 1775, but only reached Halifax under a jury-rig three months later having endured a storm-ridden voyage. He commanded this frigate in the New York campaign from 3 July 1776, and in the summer of 1777 at Rhode Island, off Cape Cod, and Cape Ann, where she took several prizes, but on 7 August 1778 she was abandoned and burned at Rhode Island to prevent her capture by the French fleet.

Returning to England, Hudson had a brief stint in acting command of the Foudroyant 80, flagship to Vice-Admiral Lord Molyneux Shuldham, escorting the trade out from December, and then sailing on a short cruise. Having recommissioned the Richmond 32 in July 1779 he went out to North America in December, joining the Raleigh 32 Captain James Gambier, in escorting a convoy from Cork, and at the capture of Charleston on 11 May 1780, he led a brigade of five hundred seamen ashore. The Richmond later captured the American privateer Portsmouth Hero on 13 July 1780, and on 28 August was in company with the Iris 32, Captain George Dawson, when she took the meekly defended American frigate Trumbull 32. After escorting troop reinforcements from New York to the Chesapeake, Hudson commanded the Richmond at the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, but six days later the frigate was taken, as was the Iris 32, Captain George Dawson, by a squadron commanded by M de Barras whilst in the process of destroying enemy cables in the bay.

After being exchanged Captain Hudson returned to England and was unable to find any further employment during the war, but was appointed to the Venus 36 at the peace, serving on the Irish station from her recommissioning in March 1783 to her paying off in June 1786.

He became a superannuated rear-admiral in 1793 and died at Walworth, Surrey, on 26 February 1803, being buried in St. Mary s Newington in the diocese of Southwark.

His wife Margaret survived him by six years, and he had two sons and two daughters from his marriage who were still minors at the time of his death.