Difference between revisions of "S.E. Hudson"
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He was also a signee of the original proposal for a Private Theatre in Cape Town and later a member of the managing Commission for the [[African Theatre]] in Cape Town. Appointed by [[Sir George Yonge]] when granting the land for the proposed theatre. | He was also a signee of the original proposal for a Private Theatre in Cape Town and later a member of the managing Commission for the [[African Theatre]] in Cape Town. Appointed by [[Sir George Yonge]] when granting the land for the proposed theatre. | ||
− | As a diarist Hudson provided the detailed comment of an eye-witness during Sir George | + | As a diarist Hudson provided the detailed comment of an eye-witness during [[Sir George Yonge]]’s governorship and the sensational events of Lord Charles Somerset’s later years as seen by a man in his position. Intelligent as he was, he provides little in the way of character sketches or lively conversation. |
The threat of insolvency clouded his last years. Died at Cape Town on the 2nd September 1828. | The threat of insolvency clouded his last years. Died at Cape Town on the 2nd September 1828. |
Revision as of 08:40, 12 January 2013
(17*-18*) Civil servant, playwright, painter and diarist. Born Samuel Eusebius Hudson as the eldest son of Samuel and Lidia Hudson, at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England on the 10th January 1764.
Accompanied Sir Andrew and Lady Anne Barnard to Cape Town in 1797, as agent and personal attendant to Barnard. He remained in Barnard’s employ until 1798, when he became first clerk in the Department of Customs, Cape Town (1798-1800). He continued to reside at the Cape after it had been handed over to the Batavian Republic in 1803. As they were without official employment he and his brother, Thomas Hudson, opened a boarding establishment. During the Napoleonic wars Hudson visited England and on his return in August 1814 began to devote himself to art.
His remaining years he spent in Cape Town except for a brief residence at Uitenhage, where he produced views of the neighbourhood in water-colours. In Cape Town, in 1825, he was conducting day and evening schools, and was employed by William Beddy to teach art at his Feinaiglian School in the Heerengracht (later Adderley Street). There was also a steady demand for his copies in oils of the masterpieces of the Dutch artists Jan Steen, Hobbema and Van der Velde.
Inveterate diarist, has been called the Samuel Pepys of Cape Town.
As a playwright, he wrote a scenario for a comic opera, lampooning the officials at the Cape at odds with Sir George Yonge (notably General Francis Dundas), entitled He Who'd Be A Governor Also known as The New Opera. (Published 1861?*)
He was also a signee of the original proposal for a Private Theatre in Cape Town and later a member of the managing Commission for the African Theatre in Cape Town. Appointed by Sir George Yonge when granting the land for the proposed theatre.
As a diarist Hudson provided the detailed comment of an eye-witness during Sir George Yonge’s governorship and the sensational events of Lord Charles Somerset’s later years as seen by a man in his position. Intelligent as he was, he provides little in the way of character sketches or lively conversation.
The threat of insolvency clouded his last years. Died at Cape Town on the 2nd September 1828.
Sources
Bosman, 1928: p63;
Gosher, 198*;
http://ancestry24.com/samuel-hudson/
Hudson, S.E. The Diary of Samuel Eusebius Hudson. Chief Clerk in the Customs, Cape Town 1798-1800. SA Library.
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