Author: Hudson, Thomas
Biography:
HUDSON, Thomas (1791-1844: The Era)
The bibliographical record of Hudson’s very popular comic songs is a mare’s nest: the list in this bibliography can be only a starting point. Hudson was a professional singer and composer who performed in the meeting rooms of London taverns, at public dinners, and at supper clubs. Between 1818 and 1831 he released thirteen “collections” of his songs, pamphlets of 36 pages each; he also offered for sale separate songs with music (but musical scores are excluded from this bibliography). He was however cavalier about the conditions of publication. The collections are not consistently numbered or dated; imprints vary from London to Clerkenwell and Newington; and dates may not be trustworthy (some copies dated 1821 are reported to be printed on paper with a watermark of 1825, for instance). Buyers had their sets bound up and the resulting volumes are far from uniform. A detailed obituary in The Era provides the best evidence about his personal life. Reliable public records are scarce, partly because his name was not uncommon. He did however have an uncommon career. He started out as a grocer in the area of Soho and Covent Garden but on the strength of his success as a performer, he took over the Kean’s Head tavern off Drury Lane, whereupon he “lost nearly all he had” (Morning Advertiser). About 1820 he moved to the address where he stayed the rest of his life, 6 Museum Street, Bloomsbury. He is probably the Thomas Hudson who married Sarah Ann Dark Burditt at Christ Church, Southwark, in 1816; they had at least three children baptised in London between 1818 and 1822. (Sarah Hudson, who identified herself as his wife, was robbed on Drury Lane in 1835.) He died of “bronchitis and consumption” at his home on Museum Street on 19 Jun. 1844 and was buried at Kensal Green on 29 Jun. A concert held on 31 Jul. at the Princess’s Concert Hall for the benefit of the “far from affluent” widow and children, under the patronage of the Duke of Cambridge, was sold out, all of the committee members and most of the performers having been Hudson’s personal friends. (The Era 23 Jun. 1844; findmypast.com 27 Dec. 2022; “Hudson, Thomas,” folksongandmusichall.com; Morning Advertiser 1 Aug. 1844; Morning Post 20 Jun. 1844; LES 20 Jun. 1844; oldbaileyonline.org)
Other Names:
- Thos. Hudson