VAD Fred Hudson
Superintendent, Ward Master; Section Leader, Convoy Work and Night Orderly
Born on the 29th July 1872, Fred was one of five children born to James, a grocer and shoemaker, and Mary Hudson nee Wright. He had two older sisters, Mary Hannah and Emma, and a younger brother, John, who sadly died at the age of two in 1876 and is buried at Hall Green Baptist Chapel in Haworth. He had another brother, Harry, though I have not been able to establish when he was born or when he died, though he is buried with John, his sister Mary Hannah and their parents.
In 1881 the Hudson family lived at Changegate in Haworth. Mary Hannah and Emma, aged 16 and 14 respectively, were working as worsted spinners.
The Hudson family shown on the 1881 census
The 1891 census shows them living at 36 Changegate. Fred was aged 18 and working as a spinner in a worsted mill while Mary Hannah was a worsted weaver, and Emma was a mender.
Still at Changegate in 1901, Emma had moved on and Mary Hannah was a woollen weaver. Fred had become an overlooker in woollen spinning.
The 1901 census
During the second quarter of the following year, Fred married Rebecca Kane, who was a weaver originally from Milford in Wiltshire.
In 1911 Fred and Rebecca lived at 15 Alma Street in Haworth with their two year old son, Harry. They also had Rebecca's widowed brother George and his six year old daughter Gertrude living with them. Fred was working as a drawing overlooker at a worsted mill, George was a worsted weaver.
Fred worked as a VAD from May 1915 until at least the end of the war, completing one hour as a ward master at Spencer Street Auxiliary Hospital and superintendent per day, as well as section leader, convoy work and night orderly for one hour per day at both Morton Banks War Hospital and Spencer Street.
Fred's father, James, died in 1919 and his mother died in 1923. His sister, Mary Hannah, died in 1909.
Rebecca died on 4th February 1928 at the age of 56 and is buried at Haworth Cemetery. Fred remarried in 1933, to Alice Maud Wakefield, who, like his first wife, was also from Wiltshire but had moved to Haworth as a child.
At the timed of the 1939 Register they lived at 15 Alma Street. Fred was still a worsted drawing overlooker in the textile industry, but he also later volunteered his time with St John's Ambulance Brigade and as an ARP during World War II.
Fred and Alice Hudson on the 1939 Register
Fred died in the last quarter of 1956, and Alice died two years later. She is buried with her parents in Haworth Cemetery.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, (1837-1915)
1881 England Census
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
1939 England and Wales Register
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2008
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
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