Biography
William Henry Hudson, a British writer, novelist, and ornithologist, was born in Argentina in 1841. His parents were English but had been born in the New England region of the United States (his grandfather had arrived in the US from Exeter, England, aboard the Mayflower). Hudson's father relocated the family to Argentina to raise sheep, where William was born. As a boy, he explored the pampas—the Argentine plains—developing expertise in the region's flora and fauna. At age 15, he participated in a cattle drive caught in a severe blizzard, during which he contracted rheumatic fever, a condition that affected his health for life. While recovering, he read Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species," which left a profound impact on him.
Following the death of his parents, Hudson traveled extensively before settling in England in 1869. In 1876, he married an older woman, and despite income from two boarding houses, they lived near poverty until his wife inherited a home in London's Bayswater area, where Hudson spent the remainder of his life.
His early novels, inspired by his experiences on the South American plains, were primarily romances set in that exotic locale but did not achieve significant success initially. He is best known for his 1904 novel "Green Mansions," which was adapted into a film in 1959. Though less successful than contemporaries like Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford, Hudson formed close friendships with them. He later focused on ornithological themes in his writing, gaining recognition. Several of his works, including "Afoot in England" (1909), "A Shepherd's Life" (1910), and "A Friend in Richmond Park" (1922), contributed to the "back-to-nature" movement.
Hudson passed away in London in 1922 after suffering from heart disease.
