Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Sir Robert A. Hudson [G.B.E.], Secretary of the National Liberal Federation, political organiser, and Chairman of the Joint Finance Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

British War Medal 1914-20 (Sir R. Hudson.); Coronation 1902; Coronation 1911; France, Third Republic Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gold appliqué, and enamel; United States of America, American National Red Cross Medal, silver and enamel, reverse inscribed, ‘To Sir Robert A. Hudson For Service American National Red Cross 1917-1918’, last in Tiffany & Co. case, first four awards mounted as originally worn, with five associated miniature awards (featuring the Order of St. John), also mounted as worn, and all housed in a custom made Garrard & Co. Ltd leather case, good very fine, unless otherwise stated (5) £500-£700

G.B.E. London Gazette 7 January 1918: Treasurer and Financial Director of the Joint Committee of the Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England.

Order of St. John, Knight of Grace London Gazette 4 March 1921.

Robert Arundell Hudson was born in August 1864, was the son of Robert Hudson of Lapworth, Warwickshire, and was educated at Ludlow Grammar School. He was Secretary of the National Liberal Federation, and was Knighted after Liberal victory in 1906. Hudson was a J.P. for London and Suffolk, and ultimately the Chairman of the Joint Finance Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He was a Trustee of the Westminster Abbey Fund; Joint Treasurer of the Westminster Hospital; Treasurer of the Sulgrave Manor Board; Trustee of Cassel Hospital, Swaylands; a Member of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and of the Voluntary Hospitals Commission. He was also a Director of Sun Insurance Office and Sun Life Assurance Society. After the death of his first wife, he married the also widowed Viscountess Northcliffe in 1923.

Sir Robert Hudson resided at Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, Epping, Essex, and was a Patron of the living of Theydon Mount with Stapleford Tawney. He died in November 1927, and his ashes are buried in the West Cloister of Westminster Abbey.

Correspondence between the recipient and various individuals such as: Lord Northcliffe; Lord Roseberry; Gladstone and Asquith are held in several institutions such as the British Library and the Bodleian Library.