John Pilkington Hudson

24/7/1910 – 6/12/2007

• his life
  • in wartime
  • in peace-time
• pictures
• his death
  • obituaries

His life

• An excellent biography on Wikipedia.
• A musical and spoken tribute by his nephew David Dempster (in Florida) (added 31/12/07)
• Notes on his life written by his son Dick in 2004 with some input from him (and slightly revised since then).

Details of his wartime career

• • An excellent book, with about 37 sympathetic pages about him: James Owen, “Danger UXB. The heroic story of the WWII Bomb Disposal Teams. (Little, Brown, 2010)
  • A book about bomb disposal with about 13 pages about his work, but little about him: Melanie. Jappy, Danger UXB. (Channel 4 Books, 2001)
  • A record of his promotion from Serjeant to Second Lieutenant, 26 October 1940
  • A fragment of an account (by him) of a day at Dunkirk in 1940.
  • An account (written by him in 1990) of his first Bomb Disposal assignment in the Sheffield blitz around Christmas 1940.
  • Details of the Y-fuze bomb incident in 1943 for which he got his first George Medal
    • the official citation giving the reasons for the award
    • announcement of the award in the London Gazette, 20 April 1943
  • Details of the V1 bomb incident in 1944 which earned him his second George Medal (called a ‘bar’ to the first one)
    • the official citation giving the reasons for the award
    • announcement of the award in the London Gazette, 15 September 1944
    • a brief account of the incident in a local history of the area
  • A two-page article from Radio Times 10-16 Feb 2001 about the two-part series on Channel 4,  Danger Unexploded Bomb‘, featuring him as one of the interviewees.
  • A summary of his wartime career
  • a building named after him : Hudson House, the HQ of the only Royal Engineer Territorial Army Bomb Disposal Regiment.

Details of his peace-time career

• the announcement of his CBE in the London Gazette, 31 December 1974.
• Two brief biographical articles published in 2001 for members of Nottingham university.
  • from the Nottingham University magazine
  • from AGRIMAG, journal of the Old Kingstonian Association, the alumnus organisation of the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus; p100/101
• Recent birthdays
  • Some pictures from his 90th birthday.
    • A poem composed for his 90th by his son Dick
• A poem by his father William Arthur Hudson about a nursing chair and its users.

Some tiny snapshots from his life.

For captions, click any picture then click the right arrow to move through the gallery.

[Show slideshow]

His death

• He died peacefully at home in Wrington on 6th December 2007
• The funeral: All Saints Church, Wrington, at 12.00 on Monday 17th December.
  • The service sheet.
  • An appreciation by his friend Peter Waister (a former student and colleague).
  • Donations in his memory (divided unequally between All Saints Church and the Wrington Vale Medical Practice): £1,451.70. Thank you to everyone! A thankyou letter from the Parish Church Council:

Obituaries

• Agrimag (2008; this is the alumnus journal of the former Midland Agricultural College at Sutton Bonington) – a collective tribute with contributions by Brian Self, Sylvia Parrett, Peter Waister, Peter Alderson and Julian Wiseman.
• Experimental Agriculture (2008, volume 44, pp. 141–144) – a full-length obituary by his former student, Brian Self.
• BD News  for March 2008.                      
• The Guardian for 8 February 2008, by Dan van der Vat, a distinguished military historian. (Note about ‘liquid hydrogen’)
• Three tributes in the local village journal for February 2008. (The tribute by Nicholas Maddock was also published in the Chew Valley Gazette for February 2008.)
• The Royal Horticultural Society’s magazine The Garden for February 2008 (page 83) – a brief notice by his former student Brian Self.
• The New Zealand Heraldfor 19 January 2008. 
• The Fruit Growerfor January 2008, by Malcolm Withnall, a founding member of the ‘Under-40s Club’ that he initiated for young growers. This obituary will be reprinted in The New Zealand Garden Journal, June 2008.
• The Army Rumour Service, 8 January 2008.
•  The Independent for 8 January 2008 by his student, colleague and friend Peter Waister.
• The Buxton Advertiser for 27 December 2007.
• The Times for 21 December 2007. (Note about ‘liquid hydrogen’)
• The Old Plumptonians Association News, added 19 December 2007.
• The Liverpool Daily Post for 13 December 2007.
• The Telegraph for 12 December 2007.
• A brief obituary fragment that he wrote for himself.

Notes

• ‘Liquid hydrogen’. Both the Times and the Guardian describe the coolant that John used for disabling bomb-fuse batteries as liquid hydrogen. This is wrong – it was actually liquid oxygen.